


ii&imi lllii 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap.._ Copyright No.._ 

Slielf_„__,L,_3 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







;; ■ ■ ;. 








Shall Liberty Die? 



OR 



Patriots to the Front. 



A Biblical, and Historical, View of the Great 

ANTICHRIST: 

whose coming was predicted by the Prophet Daniel, 

and by the apostles paul and john, and who 

for a thousand years has been the 

Foe of Liberty, the Destroyer 

of Nations, and the Curse 

of the World. 



This Antichristian Power is now at work in Under- 
mining the Institutions, and Destroying the 
Liberties of this Great, and Free, 
and Prosperous Nation. 



O. 



BY REV. ELIJAH LUCAS, \\&\U-(L" 

For many years the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Harlem, 

( now Mount Morris Church ) New York ; and for more than twenty 

years the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Trenton, N. J. 

1897. 




A 1 



kr 



#> 



Copyrighted, 1897 

BY 

ELIJAH LUCAS. 



*\ ^JL-A^^to -w 



PREFACE. 

This book has been written because the writer 
believes that such a book is needed. As a nation 
we are living on a moral and political volcano. 
Vesuvius is not necessarily a safe place for the 
near by dwellers simply because it is not in violent 
eruption — belching forth smoke, and fire, and melted 
lava. Silent and harmless as it may appear, there 
are prodigious powers of destruction lurking within, 
that are liable to burst forth, in awful and ruinous 
fury, at any moment. Nor is the dweller on its 
bosom any more safe because he is unapprehensive of 
danger, and laughs at the friendly voice that warns 
him of his peril. 

This book is intended to add another warning 
voice to the many that have been raised to arouse 
an indifferent, or a too confiding people, to the perils 
that threaten all that Patriots, and Protestant 
Christians, hold most dear. " The Philistines be 
upon thee, Samson !" As a nation we are proud of 
our greatness, and our strength, and flatter our- 
selves that nothing can do us harm ; and while 
Samson thus dreams on the lap of Delilah, the " Har- 
lot" — a great Foreign, Political Ecclesiasticism — is 
shearing off the locks of his strength. 



PREFACE. 



Our book is written in popular style for the gen- 
eral reader, and all technical phrases and foreign 
quotations have been avoided, the aim of the writer 
being to present the exact truth — nothing but the 
truth — in the simple, every-day language of the peo- 
ple, being assured that what the great mass of the 
people can easily grasp, the scholars and philo- 
sophers who may read this volume, will not find 
difficult of comprehension. 

In order not to try the patience of the printer, or 
divert the attention of the reader, with foot notes, 
we have given our references and authorities in 
the body of the work. 

There was a time when ancient Rome was mis- 
tress of the world. She gloried in her vast terri- 
torial extent ; in her mighty populations ; in her 
boundless wealth ; in her invincible armies, and in 
her wonderful prosperity. But when she seemed 
the most powerful and glorious in the eyes of the 
world, and in her own eyes, there were influences 
and forces at work within her that at last under- 
mined her strength, and laid her glory in the dust. 
And bye and bye the historian wrote the " Decline 
and Fall of the Roman Empire." 

Greater than ancient Rome is the country we call 
the United States of America, This " Young Giant of 
the West" is the wonder and admiration of the world ; 



PKEFACE. 



the richest, freest, happiest, most intelligent, most 
religious, and most prosperous nation the world 
has ever known. But weakening influences, and 
destructive forces are at work among us; for a 
crafty, and cruel enemy, from over the seas, is 
" sowing tares among the wheat," and unless the 
liberty-loving American people shall arise from 
their indifference, and false security, they will reap 
from this sowing a harvest of bitterness, and per- 
haps some future Gibbon may write the " Decline 
and Fall of the Great Republic." 



DEDICATION. 



If you fear God, and love our Lord Jesus Christ ; 
— if you are a minister of the Gospel ; — or a Sun- 
day School Worker ; — if you are a Free Mason ; — or 
an Odd Fellow ; — or an American Mechanic ; — or a 
Knight of Pythias ; — or an A. P. A. ; — or if you be- 
long to any other Patriotic Order, or to no Order at 
all, yet, — if you are a Patriot, and love the flag of 
this free country, and its glorious institutions ;- — an 
open Bible ; — Liberty of Conscience ; — Free Speech ; 
— a Free Press; — Separation of Church and State; 
— the perpetuation, in their integrity, of our Public 
Schools ; — and if you will do what you can to hand 
down to future generations these institutions that 
have cost so much in treasure, and suffering, and 
blood, and in the lives of Patriot Heroes ; — then 
this volume is most respectfully, and affectionately, 

Dedicated to You, by the Author, 

who loves every star, and every stripe, in Our 
Glorious Banner of the Free. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. page. 

Shall liberty die ? — Widespread apprehension — Great interest 
in the subject of Popery — What is Popery ? If better than 
the American Constitution, we all want it — Who and what 
is the Pope ? — Cardinal Manning — Vicar-General Preston — 
Satolli — Leo XIII. and Public Schools — Ignorance of the 
people in Eoman Catholic countries — Protestantism to be 
destroyed — Protestantism has no rights — Treason in the 
Eomish Congress in Baltimore — Popery the deadly enemy 
of American institutions — The foe of civil and religious 
liberty — Guerilla warfare of the Jesuits — Parochial schools 
nests of treason — Lies about Luther — The truth about 
Luther — Popery and politics — Gladstone's protest against 
Popery — Popery rules New York — Rules in Boston — New 
England has become New Ireland — The Pope in Wash- 
ington — Our National Government being Romanized — - 
Patriotism at a discount in Washington — The silent pulpit 
and the muzzled press — The rift in the clouds — Patriotic 
uprising — A. P. A. — Not bigots, but patriots — Who are the 
bigots? — The great political machine — A. P. A. platform — 
Mr. Froude's warning to America — No Protestant votes 
against Liberty. 1 

CHAPTER II. 

The Little Horn — The " Mother of all the churches" paints 
her face — Many deceived — The Antichrist — The book of 
Daniel — The monarch's dream — The dream interpreted — 
The four great empires — Iron and clay will not mix — Ele- 
ments of weakness in the Roman Empire — Dangers of too 
extensive immigration — Destroyed the fourth great mon- 
archy — A warning to the United States — Citizens, but not 
Americans — The Prophet has a dream — Four great beasts — 
Chaldea, Persia, Greece and Eome — The ten horns — The 
little horn — Antichrist — Testimony of the Fathers — Emperor 
Constantine — Pagans rush into the church — The Christian 
church becomes Paganized. 48 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. page 

A " stout look" — Romish arrogance — Hildebrand and Henry 
IV. — Rules in heaven, earth, and hell — Three Kingdoms 
rooted up by the Little Horn — Sir Isaac Newton's view — 
Kings above popes — Temporal power of the popes — Charles 
Martel — Pepin — Charlemagne — The sinister "eyes" of the 
Papacy — " Speaking great words against the Most High " — 
Antichrist — "Making war with the saints" — "Wearing 
out the saints of the Most High ' ' — Rome delights in blood — 
The Waldenses and the Albigenses — The popes have a 
special grudge against the saints — John Wickliffe — Council 
of Constance — John Huss denounces the profligacy of the 
priests — Huss tried for heresy — Condemned by the Council — 
Emperor Sigismund breaks his word — Huss insulted and 
degraded from the priesthood — Huss is burned at the stake — 
Horrible sufferings of Jerome of Prague, Huss's devoted 
friend — Jerome's trial and martyrdom — He sings amidst 
the flames — Emperor's breach of faith justified by the 
Council — No faith to be kept with heretics. 62 

CHAPTER IY. 

" The man of sin, and son of perdition " — Paul's confirmation 
of Daniel — Portrait of the papacy in 2 Thess. 2 chapter — A 
succession of pre-eminently wicked men — True of the popes 
of Rome — A look at a few of them — Saint Gregory I. — His 
insincerity — Emperor Mauritius — Phocas, the usurper and 
murderer, flattered and eulogized by Gregory— Gibbons' 
statement — Gregory and Antichrist — Pope John VIII. — 
Tyrannical and cruel — Pope Sergius III. — Rome ruled by 
prostitutes — " The slave of every vice, and the wickedest of 
men ' ' — Pope John X. the paramour of the harlot Theodora — 
Pope John XL was the bastard son of Ms Holiness Pope 
Sergius III. — A few more of the holy links in the chain of 
apostolical succession — Pope Vagilius wades through blood 
to the pontifical chair — Pope Marcellinus an idolator — Pope 
Honorius a heretic — Pope Eugenius a Simonist, a perjurer, 
and altogether bad — Pope John II. charged with incest by 
his own church — Others of the same sort — Testimony of 
Romish writers. 94 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. page. 

Pope Boniface the eighth — King Philip the Fair — The storm 
brewing — The insulting Legate imprisoned — The pope's 
bulls burned at Paris — The bull, Unam Sanctam — The two 
swords — Death of Boniface — His ' l glaring vices ' ' — Pope 
takes up his residence in France — The Italians demand that 
the pope return to Rome — Election of Pope Urban VI. — The 
cardinals feel insulted — Urban declared a usurper, and 
deposed — A "holy" Tammany — The great schism — Elec- 
tion of Pope Clement the VII. — Rival popes — Council of 
Pisa — Another pope elected — Three popes at one time — 
Successors of Judas, the traitor — Pope John XXIII. fierce 
and furious — Blasphemy of Alexander VI. — Council of Con- 
stance — Election of Pope Martin V. — The schism healed — 
Popes the vicars of Satan — The papacy is Antichrist. 108 



CHAPTER VI. 

Growth of the Little Horn — The opposer of the Almighty — 
Sitteth in the temple of God — " Our Lord God the Pope " — 
Squabbling over a title — Holy keys — The blasphemous 
title — Antichrist revealed — Boniface III. the first pope — 
Phocas, the infamous creator of popes — Emperor Mauritius 
and his sons murdered by Phocas — Empress and her 
daughters also murdered — Base origin of the papacy — The 
god of the Vatican — Rome's hatred of the Bible — Papacy vs. 
the Word of God — Wickliffe burned after being forty years 
in the grave — Afraid of the light — Popes and the Bible 
Societies — Canon Farrar to Leo XIII. — Popish Bible burn- 
ings — Practiced in U. S. — A bonfire of New Testaments — 
Laws of the papacy above the laws of God — Apostle John 
on Antichrist — You must be a papist or be damned — Rome- 
made mediators — Prayers to the Virgin — Mary the mediatrix 
between God and man — Christ not sufficient for Eome — God 
has appointed one Mediator, and Rome has appointed 
thousands. 121 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. page. 

Hindrances removed — Popery to be destroyed — Important 
testimonies — Popery the devil's masterpiece — After the 
workings of Satan — Little Catholic and his Bible — The un- 
welcome curate — The impertinent priest — One Romanist 
who would not be a slave — Popish darkness vs. Gospel 
light— Origin of image worship— Growth of image worship — 
Emperor Leo III. against image worship— Popes righting for 
the idols — The pope insults the emperor — Three hundred 
and thirty-eight bishops declare against idolatry — The Em- 
press Irene murders her son — The murderess favors idolatry— 
Council of Nice convened by a blood-stained woman. 145 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Evil "power" of the papacy — Christ's way and the Pope's 
way — What might have been — Popery makes infidels — 
Popery the curse of France — Papacy produced Voltaire and 
French atheism — Noble acts of Voltaire— Priests inferior to 
Voltaire — Alas ! Poor Erin ! — Priests the curse of Ireland — 
How the Irish are educated — Priests kindly do all Pat's 
thinking for him — Ireland the Paradise of bishops and 
priests — Fat priests and lean people — Money ! Money ! 
Money ! Give ! Give ! Give ! — Rome and rum Ireland's 
ruin — Holy wells of Ireland — Very much like heathenism — 
Heathen performances — Painful self -torture— Miracles of St. 
Patrick's Well — All "stark naked" — Feast of lunatics — 
Indecent orgies promoted by the priests — Romanism de- 
serving only of contempt. 16S 

CHAPTER IX. 

What Popery has done for Spain — Pius IX. becomes Pope in 
1846 — He begins well — A Pope becomes a Reformer !— Noble 
conduct of the new Pope — The tiger has a velvet paw — And 
very sharp and ugly claws — Rome never changes — Flight of 
the pope in disguise — The Roman Republic — Palace of the 
Inquisition — The chamber of horrors — The Mother of 
abominations — "Such are thy tender mercies, tyrant 
Rome !" — Liberty is crushed, and the Pope is happy — 
Christ blesses. The Pope curses. 184 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. page. 

The Pope has the 1 1 keys ' ' of the torture chamber — What 
Popery has done for Mexico — How Rome converted the 
Mexicans — Priests fatten on the ignorance of the people — 
Romanism promotes immorality — Popery in Ecuador — 
Ecuador a finished specimen of priestly work — United States 
to be Romanized — Syllabus of Pius IX. — A menace to 
liberty — Rome relies on her criminals — Rome breeds mur- 
derers — Niece of an Archbishop arraigns popery — A dreadful 
crop from bad seed — Damaging testimonies — There is trouble 
ahead— Papists arming and drilling. 202 

CHAPTER XL 

' ' Signs and lying wonders " — Rome's use of relics — " Kirwan' ' 
to Archbishop Hughes — Priests in the rag and bone busi- 
ness — Infamous frauds of the priests — Blind leaders of the 
blind — Saints with too many arms and legs — Heathen per- 
formance in Hoboken, X. J. — Blood and bones of St. 
Quietus — Praying to old bones — Rome knows how to make 
money — Priests raising the wind in Xew York — Holy House 
of Loretto — Wonder-working porringer — Priests own the 
seamless coat of Jesus Christ — An honest man's protest — 
Holy coat makes millions — A priest with the spirit of 
Luther — A brave priest rebukes his bishop — "Holy coat, 
pray for us. ' ' 220 

CHAPTER XII. 

Hungry sheep fed on chaff — Feeding the sheep in St. Patrick's 
Cathedral, Xew York — Virgin Mary turned artist — Heathen- 
ism in St. Patrick's Cathedral — The flag that insults the 
Stars and Stripes — Decree of the Immaculate Conception — 
The horrible definition— Pius IX. a dangerous teacher — 
Some tricks attributed to Virgin Mary — Romanists dishonor 
Mary — Mary and the fallen nun — Talking head on the well- 
curb— Mary takes the place of a wife — Blasphemy of 
Transubstantiation — Creating the Creator — u Lying won- 
ders "of the mass — Eating human flesh, and swallowing 
God — Wafer changed into a child — Bees erect a chapel of 
wax — Asses kneel before the wafer god — The worshipping 
mule converts his master. 245 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIII. page. 

Seducing spirits — Doctrines of devils — Pagan philosophers on 
demon worship — Roman demon -worshippers — Priests claim 
to cast out devils —Paul denounces heathen practices — Dr. 
South ey on St. Dominic — The saintly fiend — Ignatius 
Loyola and the Jesuits — Romanists misrepresent our Christ — 
Rome's tyrannical Christ — Father Chiniquy's testimony — 
Popery and Buddhism — Interesting letter from Burmah — A 
striking parallel — A word of warning. 273 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A word of warning — Speaking lies in hypocrisy— Decree of 
infallibility — Peter not the first pope — Peter never in 
Rome — The confessing, or the lying Peter, which ? — God's 
order vs. the pope's — Had Peter a grudge against John ? — 
Rome puts Linus and Clement above the apostle John — 
Rome's rock nothing but sand — A blunder as well as a 
crime — The forged Decretals — Testimony of a learned 
Papist — Rome finds forgery profitable — A pope does a little 
lying on his own account — Romish forgeries multiply — 
Forged donation of Constance — Gibbons' testimony — Pope 
Adrian's letter to Charlemagne —A letter from Peter in 
heaven — Still that shameful fraud — The Pope in heaven 
flatters the French — "Their conscience seared with a hot 



294 



CHAPTER XV. 



God's law of marriage — Priestly celibacy contrary to Scrip- 
ture — God's law trampled under foot — Blasphemy in the 
Council of Trent— Horrible results of the rule of celibacy — 
The law against nature — The bitter fruits of celibacy— For- 
bidding to marry a mark of Antichrist — Dictating as to 
what men may eat — Legislating for men's stomachs— A dis- 
pensation a permission to sin — Interesting quotation from 
Bishop Newton — "Idle, popish, monkish abstinence" — 
Who are "good ministers of Jesus Christ " ? — " Ye are all 
of your father, the devil." 322 



CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER XVI. page. 

The Apocalypse on the Papacy — An interesting Scripture quo- 
tation — A most instructive prophecy — A most intelligent 
interpretation — The Eomish ' ' Beast from the bottomless 
pit ' ' — Protestantism beaten by the Beast — Protestants 
bleeding, and Rome rejoicing — Resurrection of the wit- 
nesses — The Beast in Daniel and Revelation identical — 
Truth crushed, and Rome makes merry — All the world at 
the feet of the Pope — Always darkest before day — The wel- 
come voice of Luther — A woman clothed with the sun — 
The Great Red Dragon — The Dragon disappointed of his 
prey — The last of the Pagan persecutions — Marvellous 
fortitude of a mistaken Christian — The rift in the clouds — 
Hypocrisy of false religions — The fierce Maximin is dead — 
Constantine gives peace to the Church — " Man's inhumanity 
toman." 340 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The monster coming up out of the sea — Seven heads, and ten 
horns — The crowns transferred from heads to horns — The 
Beast with a deadly wound — How the deadly wound was 
healed— In appearance a lamb ; in reality a dragon — Rome 
Pagan still survives in Rome papal — Making an image of 
the beast — Giving life to the image of the beast — Tyrants 
support each other — Whom they create they adore — Romish 
boycotting, ancient and modern — Speaking like a dragon, 
and killing like a wild beast — Gregory VII. defines the 
powers of the papacy — Innocent III., beast and dragon in 
one — King John of England surrenders the crown to the 
Pope — Dreadful effects of the interdict on England — In- 
solent letter of Innocent to Count Raymond — The Pope's 
shameful treatment of the Count— Count Raymond plotted 
against by the Pope — Count Raymond scourged, naked, by 
the Pope's Legate. 367 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Who will not worship the beast must be killed— The Legate 
and the wafer god lead the murderous host — Priests sing 
while heretics burn — ''Rather than betray our friends, we 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

will eat our own children " — Kivers of blood flowing, and 
the Legate happy —Sixty thousand slaughtered, and Beziers 
laid in ashes— Count Roger's brave defence of Carcassone — 
The Legate's infamous terms rejected — Treachery of the 
Legate toward Roger — Roger and his Knights betrayed — 
The holy assassins disappointed of their prey — Fifty hung, 
and four hundred burnt alive — Count Roger stripped of his 
estates and murdered — Heretics had their eyes torn out and 
their noses cut off — Wearing out the saints — Sad farewells 
as the Albigenses prepare for death — A hundred and forty 
heretics in one bonfire — Lady Guiraude buried alive — The 
Papacy is always and essentially cruel — Brave Ugo Bassi 
the victim of priestly cruelty — The monster with great iron 
teeth. 392 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Papacy the great whore of the Apocalypse — The woman on the 
scarlet-colored beast — The Mother of harlots — The Mother 
of abominations — Incense adopted from Paganism — Holy 
water — More heathen abominations — Testimony of the 
Italian patriot, Gavazzi — Rome sends unbaptized infants to 
liell — Romish baptism an abomination — Kirwan to Arch- 
bishop Hughes on the silly performance — Holy salt, holy 
oil, holy breath, and holy spittle — The mass an abomination — 
Excuses for using Latin in the mass — Indulgences — Sale of 
indulgences lead to the Reformation — Making merchandise 
of souls — John Tetsel selling indulgences — Tetsel's cross 
equal to the cross of Christ — Money down, sin all you please. 416 

CHAPTER XX. 

Purgatory — Purgatory for those who die in the grace of God — 
Purgatorial fires against the cleansing blood — Better than a 
gold mine — Challoner's weak defence of Purgatory — Per- 
tinent questions to an Archbishop — A stupendous fraud — 
Robbing the poor — The heartless priest and the weeping 
widow — Drives off the widow's cow to pay for masses — No 
money, no mass— The priest and the sucking pig— A priestly 
protest against priestly iniquity — Auricular confession — 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Shameful questions to females — Testimony of Father 
Hogan — Priest and fair penitent will swear to a lie — The 
anxious wife and the accommodating friar — Auricular con- 
fession encourages immorality — Horrible wickedness of 
father confessors — The father confessor comes between hus- 
band and wife. 440 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Story of priestly outrage — Father Chiniquy on the confes- 
sional — The fly in the web of the black spider — A mother's 
confession of guilt — The confessional the modern Sodom — 
"That bottomless sea of iniquity" — The confessional a 
school of perdition — The priest is lord of the family — Mon- 
asticism a Popish abomination — The United States a fair 
field for Popish manoeuvering — Nunneries an offset to 
celibacy — Monks and nuns are on the best of terms — Rela- 
tion of lying-in hospitals to nunneries — Convents and 
nunneries houses of prostitution — Nuns sw r orn to obey the 
priests — Convent life is a hell upon earth — A dying nun 
sees nothing but purgatory before her — Longs in vain for 
her mother — Rome has the heart of a dragon — Ninety thou- 
sand women without the protection of law. 465 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The city of the seven hills — The home of the harlot — Drunken 
with the blood of the saints — The right to murder heretics — 
Romish wolves after the sheep and lambs — Four hundred 
children suffocated — Mother and child dashed over the 
rocks — The Holy Inquisition — Deluged with Protestant 
blood — Massacre of St. Bartholomew— Horrors of Bartholo- 
mew's Day — Revocation of the Edict of Nantes — Horrors of 
the Dragonades — Horrors of the Irish massacre — Unspeak- 
able barbarities — All for the glory of the church — The 
butcher Alva in the Netherlands — Martyr fires kindled by 
Bloody Mary— Queen Elizabeth crowned by the people — 
And cursed by the Pope— Spain's " Invincible Armada " — 
Still thirsting for Protestant blood — Not so ' ' invincible, ' ' 
after all — She bargained for Protestant blood, and was 
cheated. 489 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. page. 

The Beast ascended out of the bottomless pit — Eomanists are 
a lost people— May sincerely believe lies and be damned for 
it — The chief product is ignorance and crime — Rome the 
wickedest city in Italy— The Fathers and Reformers on 
Papal Rome as Antichrist — What the future of the Papacy ? 
— The days of Papacy are numbered — United States must 
submit to the Pope — This Republic declared to be atheis- 
tical—Rome claims the right to rule the United States — 
Wise words from an ex-member of the U. S, Cabinet — 
Solemn responsibility of the Protestant ministry — Jesuits 
delighted with the new American Pope — What Romanizing 
this country means — The True Christ, or the Antichrist ; 
which shall it be ? 516 



CHAPTER I. 
Our National Peril. 

Shall Liberty Die ? AVhat a question ! Of 
course, we mean, shall the dearly-bought, and 
matchless liberties of this highly favored nation be 
destroyed ? And multitudes will incredulously ex- 
claim — " What a question ! Is not this question 
far-fetched?" Well, there are millions of our citi- 
zens who think it is not far-fetched, and who are 
apprehensive that the land which furnished Liberty 
with a " cradle" may yet have to provide her with a 
grave. They know that with the best possible laws 
on our statute books, the nation may be filled with 
lawlessness and degradation, because statutory enact- 
ments are not self-operating ; so while Liberty has 
power to uplift and bless a nation, she is power- 
less to sustain herself, or to perpetuate^ her own ex- 
istence. As laws must have living forces behind 
them to make them vital, and effective, so Liberty 
must have defenders, — must have zealous guard- 
ians, who will maintain her gracious authority, and 
execute her high behests ; feeling proud to be her 
slaves. Knowing that to be the slave of liberty is 
to be the freest of the free. The defenders of 
Liberty are those whom we call by the honored 
name of patriots. 

The Egyptians; the Chaldeans; the Carthagi- 
nians ; the Persians ; the Macedonians ; the Romans ; 
— all these nations lost their liberties ; and even their 
national existence. Why may not we lose ours ? 



2 Unusual Interest in the Subject of Popery. 

Is it true that American Liberty has a foe that 
is to be feared ? Many think so, and are con- 
stantly affirming it. They affirm that the man 
who is doing his utmost to array nine millions of his 
obedient followers against the liberties of this great 
Protestant nation, has his home on the Tiber, and 
his throne in the Vatican. 

The unprecedented interest, and even deep con- 
cern that is being manifested throughout the length 
and breadth of this nation, and by people of all 
classes of society, in the political pretensions and 
progress of Popery in these United States, makes it 
of the utmost importance that all who love Ameri- 
can institutions shall know with infallible certainty, 
if possible, the true character of that imported sys- 
tem of religion that has produced such wide-spread 
agitation. 

If the Romish Hierarchy can offer us anything bet- 
ter than what we possess in a free and inspired Bible, 
and our matchless American Constitution, all intel- 
ligent and patriotic souls will willingly and gladly 
accept so great a gift, and adjust our institutions to 
this superior system of government and laws. But 
the Protestant religion and the American Constitu- 
tion have served this nation so well, making her the 
most free, the most prosperous, the most progressive, 
and the most happy country the world has ever 
known, that before the American people will be 
willing to exchange her government and laws for 
the government and laws of the Pope, they will be 
very sure they are going to profit by the bargain. 



Cardinal Manning on the Power of the Pope. 3 

But who is the Pope of Rome, and what are his 
pretensions, and what does he purpose for the wel- 
fare and happiness of this great country with its 
teeming millions of intelligent freemen ? It is well 
known that the Pope claims to be the true Vicar 
and representative of Jesus Christ upon earth. We 
quote the words of Dr. Manning, a Cardinal of the 
Roman Church, who, of course, speaks with author- 
ity. In a sermon preached at Kensington, Eng- 
land, in 1869, Cardinal Manning, personating the 
Pope, says : " I claim to be the Supreme Judge 
and director of the consciences of men — of the 
peasant that tills the field, and the prince that sits 
on the throne ; of the household that sits in the 
shade of privacy, and the Legislature that makes 
laws for Kingdoms. I am the sole, last, Supreme 
Judge of what is right and wrong." Many intelli- 
gent people call that blasphemy, and it looks very 
much like it ; but this is what the Pope claims, and 
what some two hundred millions of the human 
race accept and believe, according to Romish sta- 
tistics. 

Vicar General Preston, in a sermon preached by 
him in New York, in 1888, said, " Every word 
that Leo speaks from his high chair is the voice of 
the Holy Ghost, and must be obeyed. To every 
Catholic heart comes no thought but obedience. It 
is said that politics is not within the province of the 
Church, and that the Church has jurisdiction only 
in matters of faith. You say I will receive my faith 
from the Pontiff, but I will not receive my politics 



4 If the Pope's Claims are Just we Must all Submit 

from him. This assertion is disloyal and untruth- 
ful. You must not think as you choose. You must 
think as Catholics. The man who says I will take 
my faith from Peter, but I will not take my politics 
from Peter, is not a true Catholic." 

And so the Pope claims to stand in the place of 
God as the Supreme Ruler of all men, superior to 
Kings and Governments, and all human laws. As 
God he claims the right to rule even the inmost 
thoughts and consciences of all men. By virtue of 
his holiness, and supremacy, and infallibility, he 
claims the right to substitute his laws for the laws 
of this land, his institutions for the institutions so 
dear to all true, patriotic Americans. And surely 
if the Pope does really possess the attributes and 
spirit of God, our citizens should gladly put them- 
selves under his rule, and joyfully submit to his 
authority ; for a Ruler possessing such Divine en- 
dowments must surely exercise government most 
wise, the most gentle, and the most conducive to the 
happiness of the people, and the most rapid pro- 
gress of the nation, in intelligence, virtue, and all 
other things that constitute real national prosperity 
and greatness. What nation would not feel honored 
to enjoy the government of a truly God-like man 
possessing the attributes of the Holy and Infallible 
God. 

Cardinal Satolli, whose business in this country 
is to bring our nation under the sway of his Holi- 
ness, the Infallible Pope, said in one of his public 
addresses that, " What the Church has done for 



Priestly Hatred of Our Public Schools. 5 

other nations she proposes to do for this country." 
Let American citizens take comfort from this gra- 
cious intention of the Pope. Leo proposes to begin 
by- making a few changes in our School System. 
As the American people are somewhat strongly at- 
tached to their own Public Schools, the priests of 
Rome find it necessary to weaken and undermine, 
and at last destroy, what they regard as this bigoted 
attachment to a worthless system, by declaring 
their utter contempt for it, and then by showing the 
vast superiority, and marvellous beauty of their own 
unequalled Parochial Schools, so that all intelligent 
Americans, amazed at our past stupidity, will eagerly 
adopt their system in place of our own. 

It may help to open the eyes of our people to our 
folly in the past, if we quote the words of some of 
the priests and editors of the Infallible Pope in 
regard to the imperfections and indeed the utter 
worthlessness and wickedness of the Public School 
System. So many of the learned and holy priests 
of Rome have expressed their views in regard to 
this matter that it is difficult to know where to 
begin. We will begin with Pope Pius IX. In his 
" Syllabus of Errors," 1864, the Pope says, " It is an 
error to hold that the entire direction of public 
schools .... may and must appertain to the civil 
power, and belong to it so far that no other author- 
ity whatsoever shall be recognized as having any 
right to interfere in the discipline of the schools." 
Again the same Pope says it is an error to hold that, 
" The best theory of civil government requires that 



6 Shall the State or the Pope Control Our Schools ? 

popular schools .... should be freed from all 
ecclesiastical authority and government interference, 
and should be fully subject to the civil and politi- 
cal power in conformity with the will of rulers, and 
the prevalent opinions of the age." And once more 
from Pius IX. " It is an error to say that this system 
of instructing youth which consists in separating it 
from the Catholic faith, and from the power of the 
Church, may be approved by Catholics." In these 
declarations the Pope sets himself squarely in op- 
position to the cherished sentiments of the Ameri- 
can people. 

Bishop McQuaid, in a lecture in Horticultural 
Hall, Boston, February 13, 1876, declared. " The 
State has no right to educate ; and when the State 
undertakes the work of education it is usurping the 
powers of the Church." " The Church," in his view, 
of course, is the Romish Church. What that Church 
is will be clearly seen in the following chapters of 
this book. 

Archbishop Hughes, of New York, declared. 
" The public school system is a disgrace to the civi- 
lization of the nineteenth century." Cardinal Mc- 
Closkey said : " We must take part in the elec- 
tions. Move in a solid mass in every State against 
the party pledged to sustain the integrity of the 
public schools." If all American patriots would 
"move in a solid mass" against those who are seek- 
ing to destroy the integrity of the public schools, 
instead of putting their political party before their 
country, our public schools would be in no danger. 



Parochial Schools Forced on Romanists. 7 

It is well known to the priests of Rome that the 
Roman Catholic people do not want the Parochial 
schools. It is by threats, and coaxing, and other 
unfair means that the priests succeed in inducing 
parents to send their children to the Parochial 
schools, for they well know and acknowledge that 
their children get a far better education in the State 
schools. The following shocking tirade was uttered 
by Father Walker, of New York, on the 14th of 
March, 1875, and reported in the New York Herald 
the following day, accompanied with a most severe 
and scorching editorial. The Herald says : " In an- 
nouncing, yesterday, that the next Sunday's collec- 
tion would be for the benefit of the Parochial schools 
he took occasion to denounce the Public school 
system of New York in the most bitter and injudi- 
cious manner. c Woe be to the parents/ shouted he, 
in the manner of one hurling anathemas, ' woe be to 
the parents who send their children to the Public 
schools ! Woe be to them that secretly favor them 
in their hearts ! I would not like to be in their 
places in the day of judgment. The Public schools 
are the nurseries of vice. They are Godless schools, 
and they who send their children to them cannot 
expect the mercy of God. They ought not to expect 
the sacraments of the Church in their dying mo- 
ments. I hope you and I will live to see the day 
when it will be understood that parents who commit 
this great sin will be refused the sacraments of the 
Church. What ! let them die without the sacra- 
ments of the Church ? you will ask. Yes, I say so. 



8 Father Walker's Disgraceful Attack. 

I would as soon administer the sacraments to a dog as 
to such Catholics. Did not Jesus Christ suffer one of 
his apostles to die without the rites of the Church 
in despair? So would I let these wretched Catholics 
perish. Catholics ! They are not Catholics. They 
are Catholics of the pot-house politician stripe, men 
who deceive and betray the poor, innocent, ignorant 
Irish immigrants when they arrive in this country ; 
men who make their poor countrymen, when they 
are only a few months in this country, perjure them- 
selves to become citizens ; men who have no faith 
or charity in their hearts. You may say, ah, but I 
know good men and women, good priests and 
bishops, good fathers and mothers who were brought 
up in the Public schools. True, but they are the 
rare exceptions, one in a thousand, or ten thousand. 
You (will say also, but some of the teachers are 
Catholics. What of it ? What do they know about 
the vice all around them, the contamination and 
villany ? They don't know it. They never see it. 
But we priests know it. Go look at the water-closets 
in some of your Public schools and see the vile 
markings and scribblings on the walls, and you will 
realize the vice and infamy that prevail in these 
nurseries of crime. The great effort of the enemy 
of God's Holy Church in these days is to get control 
of the education of the youth in the hope of thus 
counteracting the blessed influence of the priests of 
God. The enemy has abandoned every other effort. 
I tell you, Catholics, that you do not realize the 
dangers to your children. Look to it then that you 



More Slanders from Priests and Editors. 9 

do not fall a victim to his insidious arts." Such is 
the way in which these " holy priests of God ;" these 
ministers of the meek and lowly Jesus, basely revile 
and slander an institution that is the glory of this 
nation and the admiration of the world. 

The Catholic Telegraph says, " It will be a glorious 
day for Catholics in this country when the Public 
school system shall be shivered to pieces." 

The Freeman's Journal — Romanist, says, " Let the 
Public school system go where it came from — the 
devil." 

Priest Schauer saj^s, " The Public schools have 
produced nothing but a godless generation of thieves 
and blackguards." 

Archbishop Perche says, " Our Public school sys- 
tem is emphatically a social plague." 

Although such quotations might be multiplied 
almost indefinitely, enough has been quoted to show 
the bitter hatred of the Romish Church to our 
glorious and cherished Public school system, and 
the determination of the bishops and priests to de- 
stroy it. This is their settled and declared purpose. 

And what does the Pope and his priests propose 
to give us in exchange? The Parochial schools, 
which they declare to be infinitely superior to our 
American school system. If they really are superior 
we ought by all means to make the exchange. And 
surely this superiority, if it exists, will be found in 
those countries where the Pope and his priests have 
had full sway for ages and centuries. As the name 
of Venezuela is just now very prominent before the 



10 Ignorance of the People in Venezuela. 

people of this country, and as that land has long 
been under the control of the holy priests, who claim 
it as their exclusive right to direct and control the 
education of the people, let us see what their Paro- 
chial school system has done for Venezuela. 

I have before me at this moment a book that 
states that in that country — Venezuela, ninety per- 
sons in every hundred can neither read nor write. 
In Chili, seventy-three per cent, are illiterate. In 
Brazil, as stated in a letter now before me, written 
by a most intelligent gentleman who has long been 
a resident of that country, " School teachers are all 
appointed by the governors or presidents of the 
provinces, who in their turn are appointed by the 
imperial government." 

The spoils system is in full vogue in Brazil, and 
school teachers are generally appointed as the re- 
ward for political favors ; so it often happens that 
school teachers are unable to read or w^rite, being 
appointed, not for their qualifications, but " for 
friendship's sake." As a result of this system ninety 
per cent, of the entire population of Brazil can 
neither read nor write. And Rome is satisfied. In 
the best of their common schools it is a rare thing 
to find a teacher who is able to perform an example 
in common fractions in arithmetic. It is much 
more frequently the case that children attend school 
for three or four years and fail to learn the alphabet, 
the sum total of their education being the Romish 
Catechism, learned by heart, and a little knowledge 
of embroidery and fancy stitching. The boys get the 



Education in Spain and Italy. 11 

catechism minus the embroidery and stitching ; and 
Rome is satisfied. All the schools in Brazil, except 
the High schools in the larger cities, are under the 
control of the priests." 

If we cross over to Rome-ruled Spain, where the 
priests control education and everything else, we 
find that only twenty in a hundred of the people 
can read and write. In Portugal the ignorance of 
the people is even more deplorable. 

But surely if we go to sunny Italy, where the holy 
and infallible Pope has exercised both spiritual and 
temporal sovereignty for many centuries, and where 
multitudes of cardinals, bishops, priests, and nuns 
are looking after the spiritual and intellectual wel- 
fare of the people, we shall find a vastly different 
and most desirable state of things. Surely a country 
that is directly governed by the holy Vicegerent of 
Jesus Christ must be a paradise of intelligence and 
happiness, and the people of Rome especially, who 
live in the effulgence of " the Apostolic throne," and 
in' the light of the countenance of " His Holiness," 
who claims to be " the Supreme Ruler and Director 
of the consciences of men," must be the best edu- 
cated, and the most enlightened and the most pro- 
gressive and saintly people on the face of the earth. 
And, if the Pope has made no mistake in his claims, it 
must be so. But, alas ! What do we find in this 
centre and seat of Apostolic authority ? I open an 
Encyclopaedia, now before me, and I read these 
words : " The mass of the Italian people are incred- 
ibly illiterate. The primary elements of education, 



12 Stand By the Little Red School House. 

reading and writing, are by no means universal 
even among the better classes." And it is said that 
when, in 1870, King Victor Emmanuel entered 
Rome, only one-fifth of the people could read or 
write. And, as we shall see further on, the morals 
of the people were on a par with their dense igno- 
rance. 

As the bishops and priests of Rome still insist on 
the very great superiority of the Parochial to our 
State system of education, it would seem to be a 
matter of taste and opinion, and the present efforts 
of these bishops and priests must be to induce the 
great body of intelligent and patriotic American 
people to change their opinions and then the sys- 
tem, and the work is done. When this takes place, 
his Holiness in the Vatican will be likely to know 
it. In the meantime it will be well for all who love 
" the little red school house " and all it represents, 
to guard well this sacred trust, and make the most 
effective use of their ballots on election day. 

As it is the avowed purpose to destroy our Public 
school system, so also is it the settled and declared 
purpose of the Romish Hierarchy to supplant the 
Protestant religion and secure the political control 
of this nation. 

It will not do to sneer at such priestly pretensions, 
or to brand as " pessimists " or " alarmists/' those 
who seek to arouse the patriotic American citizens 
to the dangers that threaten our institutions and our 
liberties from the purposes and aggressions of this 
mighty political machine, called the Church of 



Protestantism Must Be Destroyed. 13 

Rome. Let us see what her representative men say 
as to their views in regard to the Protestant religion 
and those free institutions that have grown out of it 
in this land ; her purpose to destroy them, the mate- 
rials she possesses with which to effect her pur- 
pose, and the measure of success she has already 
achieved. 

The Roman Catholic Review, of January, 1852, 
said, " Protestantism, of every form, has not, and 
never can have, any rights where Catholicism is 
triumphant." 

The Archbishop of St. Louis said, " If the Catho- 
lics ever gain, as they surely will, an immense 
numerical majority in this country, religious free- 
dom will be at an end." 

Bishop O'Conner, of Pittsburg, said, " Religious 
liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be 
carried into effect without peril to the Catholic 
Church." 

Father Hecker, of New York, said, twenty-five 
years ago, " The Catholic Church numbers one-third 
of the American population, and if its membership 
shall increase for the next thirty years as it has for 
the thirty years past, in nineteen hundred Rome 
will have a majority and will take the country and 
keep it." He also said, " There is to be in this country, 
ere long, a State religion, and that State religion will 
be Roman Catholic." At another time Father Hecker 
said, " We number seven millions in this country, 
and in fifteen years we will take this country and 
build our institutions on the grave of Protestantism." 



14 Treason in the Baltimore Congress of 1889. 

At the great Roman Catholic Congress, held in 
Baltimore, November 11, 1889, distinguished pre- 
lates and other eminent Romanists insulted the Pro- 
testants of this nation, and claimed for the Pope and 
his Church, supremacy over the Constitution, Gov- 
ernment and Laws of these United States. The 
resolutions of the Congress contained these words : 
"We cannot conclude without recording our solemn 
conviction that the absolute freedom of the Holy 
See is equally indispensable to the peace of the 
Church and the welfare of mankind. " 

" We demand, in the name of humanity and jus- 
tice, that this freedom be scrupulously respected by 
all secular governments. 

" We protest against the assumption of any such 
government of a right to affect the interests, or con- 
trol the action of our Holy Father by any form of 
legislation, or other public act to which his full 
approbation has not been previously given, and we 
pledge to Leo XIIL, the worthy Pontiff, to whose 
hands Almighty God has committed the helm of 
Peter's bark amid the tempests of this stormy age, 
the loyal sympathy and unstinted aid of all his 
spiritual children, in vindicating that perfect liberty 
which he justly claims as his sacred and inalienable 
right." 

Surely this is nothing less than treason, and such 
abject clinging to Popery deprives every man who 
voted for such shameful resolutions, of all claim to 
being regarded as a loyal and worthy American 
citizen. 



This Country to be Romanized. 15 

The letter and spirit of that Baltimore Congress 
were utterly antagonistic to all that patriotic Ameri- 
cans reverence and delight in as civil and religious 
liberty. 

Archbishop Ireland, mistakenly believed by many 
Protestants to be a true lover of our American 
institutions, deliberately insults all the Protestant 
people of this great intelligent and liberty-loving 
country, by declaring, at this same Congress : — 
" America is at heart a Christian country." By 
" Christian " he means Roman Catholic, and he, and 
all priests and bishops bigotedly hold that Protest- 
ants are heretics and not Christians. He says : " As 
a religious system Protestantism is in helpless disso- 
lution, utterly valueless as a doctrinal or moral 
power and no longer considered a foe with which 
we must count. The Catholic Church is the sole 
living and enduring Christian authority." " Our 
work," he says, " is to make America Catholic. . . . 
Our cry shall be, God wills it. We know that the 
Church is the sole owner of the truths and graces of 
salvation." If Archbishop Ireland does not know 
that his utterances are utterly false, as well as shame- 
fully insulting, there are millions of intelligent people 
in this country who do. 

The Hon. Mr. Gladstone, of England, in his 
" Vatican Decrees," points out some of the things 
that are condemned by the Pope of Rome. He quotes 
chiefly from the syllabus of the last Pope, Pius IX. 
The Pope condemns the Liberty of the press, Liberty 
of conscience, Liberty of worship, Liberty of speech. 



16 The Syllabus of Pope Pius IX. 

He condemns those who hold that Roman Pon- 
tiffs and Ecumenical Councils have transgressed the 
limits of their power and usurped the rights of 
princes. By which is meant that when the Popes 
sanctioned all the tortures and horrors of the Inqui- 
sition, and the hangings and burnings and drown- 
ings of thousands and tens of thousands of Protest- 
ant Christians, they did what they had a perfect right 
to do, and what was eminently pleasing to the 
Heavenly Father. 

He condemns all who hold that in the conflict of 
laws, civil and ecclesiastical, the civil law should 
prevail. 

And all who hold that marriage not sacramentally 
contracted has a binding force. 

And all who hold that any other religion than 
the Roman religion may be established by the State. 

And all who hold that in countries called Catholic 
the free exercise of other religions may laudably be 
allowed. 

And all who hold that the Roman Pontiff ought 
to come to terms with progress, liberalism, and 
modern civilization. In the " Syllabus of Errors," 
issued by Pius IX., in December, 1864, the Pope 
speaks of Protestant Bible Societies as among the 
"pests" that have frequently received the severest 
rebukes of the Church. 

Here, then, we see, from the highest authority, 
that the Church of Rome is the deadly enemy of civil 
and religious liberty, and of all those institutions 
in which all liberty-loving American citizens glory, 



Civil and Religious Liberty Condemned. 17 

as being the secret of our national greatness — a 
free Bible, free press, free schools, freedom of conscience, 
and free speech. 

And from this same high authority we plainly see 
also that all those professions of love for our flag 
and devotion to our Government and Constitution, 
so often and so eloquently expressed by the bishops, 
priests and editors of the Romish Church, are false 
and hypocritical, and intended to deceive the Amer- 
ican people. 

The deadly hatred of the Hierarchy to civil and 
religious liberty has been practically manifested 
many times during the last fifty years. Whenever 
the people in Roman Catholic countries have sought 
to burst their chains, and their legislatures have 
enacted, or sought to enact, laws giving to the people 
larger freedom, the Pope has immediately denounced 
all such laws as atrocious, and declared them null 
and void, while threatening the most dreadful penal- 
ties on all who should dare to enforce them. This 
has been done in New Grenada, in Sardinia, in 
Spain, in Austria, in Mexico, etc. 

And yet the priests of Rome are constantly de- 
claring their love for our Republican form of Govern- 
ment and our American Constitution. 

But, it may be asked, " Has the Romish Hierarchy 
any materials or agencies that can really injure this 
great Protestant Republic ? What can nine millions 
do as against sixty millions ?" But the nine millions 
are thoroughly organized and the sixty millions are not. 
That makes a vast difference, as every one must see. 



18 Guerilla Warfare of the Jesuits. 

One hundred soldiers can put to flight a mob of five 
thousand men. Alexander conquered the world with 
a little army that never amounted to fifty thousand 
soldiers. A terrible superstition that makes the nine 
millions of Romanists in this country the abject 
slaves of one man, whom they believe is " God on 
earth," and possessing the power and the right to 
take them to Heaven, or send them to Hell, is the 
secret of their enmity, that makes them so dangerous 
a foe to the unorganized and scattered hosts of 
liberty and progress. 

The Jesuits are the irregular cavalry, or rather the 
unscrupulous guerilla forces of the Papacy, whose 
detestable principles and impertinent interference 
with the political affairs of nations, have secured to 
them the scorn and hatred of all the world, and 
caused their expatriation from almost every country 
under the sun. These unprincipled enemies of the 
human race are swarming everywhere in this land, 
and everywhere seeking to fasten upon us the hate- 
ful fetters of Romish despotism. 

The parochial schools, and other educational insti- 
tutions of Rome are being used for the same pur- 
pose. In all these combined they claim to have 
more than nine hundred thousand young people. 
This great host of children and young people are 
being taught that all Protestants are outlawed by 
God and the Pope, and are all doomed to the 
eternal flames of hell as heretics. And so we see 
that while it is of the utmost importance that we 
shall be one homogeneous people, the priests of 



Parochial Schools Nests of Treason. 19 

Rome are doing their utmost to cause divisions, 
and to educate their people to despise and hate 
Protestants, and Protestant institutions. These 
Romish Schools are nests of treason, and most 
dangerous to the welfare of the Republic. A book 
was published not long ago by a Romish priest 
named Segur, and endorsed by several prelates, 
and entitled — " A plain Talk About the Protestant- 
ism of To-day." In it he says — " The Holy Bible 
is not, and cannot be the rule of faith. Prot- 
estantism cannot be the religion of the people. No 
man out of the Roman Catholic Church can inherit 
eternal life, unless he is absolutely ignorant of the 
teachings of the true Church." He says the infi- 
delity of France is much to be preferred to the 
Protestant religion. " To be a Christian is to be a 
Roman Catholic. Outside of Catholicity you may 
be a Lutheran, a Calvanist, a Mohammedan, a Mor- 
mon, a Freethinker, a Buddhist ; but you are not, 
you cannot be a christian." 

And when men write or speak against this terri- 
ble system of falsehood and treason ; even men who 
call themselves Protestants, will cry, " Bigotry !" 
Mr. Talmage spoke only the truth when he said — 
" We cannot compete in bitterness with the Church 
that burned John Oldcastle, and scattered the ashes 
of Wickliffe, and massacred the Waldenses, and 
exterminated the Albigenses, and dug the Inqui- 
sitions, and roasted over slow fires Nickelson Ridley, 
and had medals struck in honor of St. Bartholo- 
mew's massacre, and took God's dear children and 



20 Martin Luther Slandered. 

cut out their tongues, and poured hot lead into their 
ears, and tore out their nails with pincers, and 
let water fall upon their heads until it wore to 
the brain, and wrenched their bodies limb from 
limb, and into the red wine-press of its wrath threw 
the red clusters of a million of human hearts." 
The same hatred of Protestants is being taught in 
all Roman Catholic schools at this hour. 

See how wilfully and shamefully Romish authors 
and teachers pervert history, in order to prejudice 
the minds of their people against the Protestant 
religion and laws. 

Segur, the French author already quoted, says, 
page 47, — " It has been proclaimed from the most 
illustrious pulpits of the Reformation, that the 
Saviour was only a Jewish Socrates, the author of the 
best practical philosophy." Page 49 : " Were it not 
that my limits are narrow, I might pass in review 
the different Protestant countries, and prove from 
public and universal facts how Luther's Reforma- 
tion abandons everywhere, and denies the sacred 
and essential dogma of the divinity of Jesus 
Christ, — a dogma without which Christianity can- 
not exist." This veracious historian says the fol- 
lowing in regard to Martin Luther : — " He was an 
apostate monk living in concubinage with an 
unfrocked nun, and he has been judged by Prot- 
estant writers with merited severity. His life, after 
his apostacy, was that of a libertine entirely taken 
with the pleasures of the table and animal pleas- 
ures, so much so that it had become a proverb, in 



Romish Perversions of Historic Truth. 21 

self-indulgence to say : ' To-day we shall live a la 
Luther.' The ' Table Talk' of Luther can still be 
found in some libraries shelved among obscene 
books. It breathes such a cynicism that it is impos- 
sible to quote from it." 

Segur speaks thus of Luther's death : — " Luther 
despaired of the salvation of his soul. Shortly 
before his death, his concubine pointed to the bril- 
liancy of the stars in the firmament. ' See, Martin, 
how beautiful that Heaven is?' c It does not shine 
in our behalf/ said the master moodily. ' Is it 
because we have broken our vows?' resumed Kate, 
in dismay. ' May be,' said Luther. c If so, let us go 
back.' ' Too late. The hearse is stuck in the mire/ 
and he would hear no more. At Eisleben, on the 
day previous to that on which he was stricken with 
apoplexy, he remarked to his friends : — ' I have 
almost lost sight of Christ, tossed as I am by these 
waves of despair which overwhelm me/ and after 
awhile, l I, who have imparted salvation to so many, 
cannot save myself.' He died forlorn of God ; blas- 
pheming to the very end." In a foot note he adds : 
" The last descendant of Luther died not long ago, 
a fervent Catholic." 

Segur speaks of Calvin's death in this way, page 
223, — " Calvin died of scarlet fever, devoured by 
vermin, and eaten up by an ulcerous abscess, the 
stench of which drove every person away. In great 
misery he gave up his rascally ghost, despairing of 
salvation, evoking the devils from the abyss, and 
uttering oaths most horrible, and blasphemies most 



22 Calvin's Happy Death. 

frightful." These utterances of M. Segur, endorsed 
by the Bishop of Boston, and whose author is com- 
mended by the Pope himself, are well known by 
millions of intelligent people to be utterly false and 
slanderous, and yet the same things concerning these 
glorious Reformers, Luther and Calvin, are taught 
by other Romish authors, and are accepted as truths 
by the members of their church. 

As not a few Protestants may be deceived by such 
statements made with so much pretense of regard 
for the good of souls, it may be well to state the 
actual truth as recorded by those most competent to 
give the actual facts. No nobler or more useful men 
ever lived than Luther and Calvin. They were men 
of God, and ready to sacrifice all, even life itself, for 
God's glory and the welfare of mankind. They were 
profound students of God's holy word, and they left 
to the world a legacy that has blessed unspeakably 
the nations of the earth. We quote from a most 
careful historian and biographer, Dr. John Lord, in 
" Beacon Lights of History," the truth in regard to 
the death of Calvin : — 

" When his feeble body was worn out by his pro- 
tracted labors, at the age of fifty-three, and he felt 
the hand of death was upon him, he called together 
his friends and fellow laborers in reform, the magis- 
trates and ministers of Geneva, imparted his last 
lessons and expressed his last wishes, with the placi- 
dity of a Christian sage. Amid tears and sobs, and 
stifled groans, he discoursed calmly on his approach- 
ing departure, gave his affectionate benedictions and 



Luther's Glorious Departure. 23 

commended them and his cause to Christ. Linger- 
ing longer than was expected, but dying in the 
brightest triumphs of Christian faith, May 27, 1564, 
in the arms of his faithful, and admiring Beza, as 
the rays of the setting sun gilded with their glory 
his humble chamber of toil and spiritual exaltation." 

The most reliable witnesses of Luther's death bed 
scenes tell this story : — " At the time of his death 
his companions were his three sons, John, Martin, 
and Paul, and his constant friend, Gustus Jonas. On 
the 18th of February, he expired at Eisleben. His 
last words were : ' Oh, my Heavenly Father, eternal 
and merciful God, thou hast revealed to me thy Son, 
our Lord Jesus Christ. I have preached him. I 
have confessed him. I love him, and I worship him 
as my dearest Saviour and Redeemer : He whom the 
wicked persecute, accuse and blaspheme.' He then 
repeated, three times : Into thy hands I commit my 
spirit. God of truth, thou hast redeemed me." 

The quotations above made from M. Segur gives 
us but a specimen of the mendacity that character- 
izes almost the entire literature of the Roman Cath- 
olic Church, and this mendacious literature is another 
of the evil agencies with which Protestant truth, and 
the advocates of free government have to contend. 

One of the most effective means employed by the 
bishops and priests of Rome in their effort to "plant 
the institutions of Rome on the grave of Protestant- 
ism," as Father Hecker said, is the earnestness with 
which they teach the people that their Church is above 
the State, and that the commands of the Pope must 



24 Perjury and Treason Inculcated. 

be obeyed in preference to the laws of the land. 
This is strongly asserted in the words already quoted 
from Cardinal Manning, in which he asserts that " the 
Pope is the Supreme Judge and Director of Legisla- 
tures that make laws for Kingdoms." In an ency- 
clical letter of the present Pope, dated November 7, 
1885, as published in the New York Herald, the Pope 
says : " We expect all Catholics to devote careful 
attention to public matters, and take part in all 
municipal affairs and elections. All Catholics must 
make themselves felt as active elements in daily 
political life in countries where they live. All Cath- 
olics should exert their power to cause the constitu- 
tions of states to be modeled on the principles of the 
true Church." This surely aims to induce all Cath- 
olics to commit perjury and treason. It is well known 
that " all Catholics," as well as others, who are 
elected to political positions are required to swear 
that they will be true to the constitution of the State. 
Indeed no foreigner can become a citizen without 
taking such an oath, but the infallible Pope him- 
self here insists that although Catholics have taken 
this solemn oath, it is their duty to subvert the free 
institutions they have sworn to sustain, and put in 
their place the tyrannical institutions of " the true 
Church." This cannot be done without perjury and 
treason. But the Church of Rome abundantly teaches 
that the oaths made to heretics are of no binding 
obligation. 

Bishop Gilmour, of Cleveland, Ohio, in his Lenten 
letter, issued to his people, March, 1873, said : 
" Nationalities must be subordinate to religion," — 



The Church of Rome Above The State. 25 

Romish religion, of course. " We must learn that we 
are Catholics first, and citizens next. God is above 
man, and the Church," — the Romish Church, of 
course — " above the state." 

In his Syllabus of Errors, Proposition 42, issued 
December 8, 1864, Pius IX., said : " It is an error to 
hold that in case of conflicting laws between the 
two powers, the civil law ought to prevail." And 
the present Pope, Leo XIIL, says: " But if the laws 
of the State are openly at variance with the law of 
God," which means Leo, " if they inflict injury upon 
the church " — of Rome — "or set at naught the author- 
ity of Jesus Christ " — which means the authority of 
the Pope — " which js vested in the Supreme Pontiff, 
then it becomes a duty to resist them, and a sin to obey 
them" 

This treason against American laws and the Con- 
stitution of the United States, is being constantly 
taught by the Romish authorities. And these dis- 
loyal teachings are accepted by the Roman Catholic 
poople, and at the ballot box they cast their votes, 
not for the welfare of the country, but for the glory 
of their Italian God, and the enrichment and in- 
crease of his church. Mr. Gladstone, of England, 
insists that a Roman Catholic cannot be a good 
citizen, for the reason that " he has forfeited his 
mental and moral freedom, and placed his loyalty 
and civil duty at the mercy of another." He also 
says : " The party now in power in the Latin Church, 
is not satisfied with the binding of the individual 
conscience, but the State also must be a slave" 



26 Rime Controls Our Principal Cities. 

For the information of those who see " no danger " 
to our institutions from the Church of Rome, it may 
be well to give a few facts showing the influence and 
power that Rome has already secured in this country. 

She has secured almost the complete control of all 
our great cities. No one needs to be told what a 
stupendous curse and disgrace the " Tammany " 
party has been and is to New York. It is generally 
spoken of as " the worst governed city in the world." 
But it is well known that the very life and soul of 
that shameful and morally rotten organization is 
the Roman Catholic Church. The real ruler of New 
York is the papal Archbishop, and he rules by virtue 
of his power to command the votes of his poor Irish 
dupes. It is no longer ago than in 1892 that the 
Mayor of the city insulted the Protestant sentiment 
of the state by publicly kissing the hand of the 
Archbishop. In return for Roman Catholic votes 
the people of the city are robbed by wholesale, and 
the stolen money is poured into the coffers of Corri- 
gan's church, that in less than a dozen years received 
more than nine and a-half millions of dollars, and 
most of it plundered from the pockets of Protes- 
tants, multitudes of whom deserve to suffer, for they 
sacrifice every patriotic and honorable principle by 
voting the Tammany ticket. 

Boston is, politically, but little better than New 
York. We will quote the eloquent words of one of 
New Englands bravest and noblist christian minis- 
ters, Rev. I. J. Lansing, who is a most careful and 
reliable student of Romanism, and one of the most 



Boston Ruled by the Pope. 27 

respected defenders of American institutions. Dr. 
Lansing says : " Now for Boston, our own imperial 
Boston, the Boston which we glory in as the modern 
Athens, which is in danger of becoming modern 
Cork ; the Boston which we remember as associ- 
ated with the earliest struggles of American liberty, 
and which may be associated with its latest con- 
flicts ; the Boston w r hich we once thought of as pos- 
sessing the most eminent names of the foremost cit- 
izens and leading literary men of the country ; the 
Boston of Samuel Adams, and Warren, and Han- 
cock, of Charles Sumner, and Wendell Phillips. 
What of Boston ? The population in 1848 was 128,- 
000 ; it then had sixty-five policemen. The popu- 
lation in 1888 had increased four fold, and the police 
had to be increased thirteen fold. This tells you 
something of the kind of people that are filling it 
up. . . . Twenty-five years ago, in 1866, when Mr. 
F. W. Lincoln was Mayor of the city of Boston, 
there were but six Roman Catholics in the city gov- 
ernment. To-day there are over fifty such. Forty 
years ago nearly all the money which w T as paid out 
of the city treasury was paid to officers with Ameri- 
can names, and Protestant lineage. To-day, of 
about six millions of dollars paid out of the city 
treasury, nearly five and a half millions is paid to 
Roman Catholics, in sums varying from six thou- 
sand dollars a year dowm to day's wages. Four thou- 
sand and more of the employees of the city of Boston 
are Roman Catholics who pay tax to the priests. 
Boston to-day is almost a Roman Catholic city. 



28 New England Become New Ireland. 

" What I have said of Boston is just as true of 
New England at large. Donahoe's Magazine, for 
June, 1888, calls Connecticut an Irish common- 
wealth, and says the Irish are in practical control of 
the state. As you might infer from the name, Don- 
ahoe's Magazine is edited by an Irishman and a 
Roman Catholic. This article names the members 
of the legislature, the mayors, and members of the 
city government in the nine cities of Bridgeport, 
Hartford, Meriden, Middletown, New Britain, New 
Haven, New London, South Norwalk and Waterbury. 
It says, " Let the grand roll of the towns be called, 
and let further evidence be adduced to them that in 
Connecticut, at least, the term New England has 
become a misnomer, and that the term New Ireland 
has incontrovertible claims to present and future 
recognition." 

What is true of New York, and Boston, is true 
also of Chicago, and other large cities of the Union. 
But what is perhaps the most alarming is the state 
of things in Washington, and the extent to which 
the National Government is already Romanized. 
The Romish papers and people claim that they 
elected Mr. Cleveland to the presidency. Through- 
out the entire country the priests from the altars of 
the churches commanded the people to vote in a 
certain way. The Toledo Catholic Review said : " The 
Catholic vote should be cast solidly for the democ- 
racy at the coming election. It is the only possible 
hope to break down the school system." We cut 
from a paper the following statement: " Priest 



The Pope in Washington. 29 

Menard, of Detroit, Michigan, said to his people, 'You 
must vote the Democratic ticket. The Democrats 
are the friends of the Church. The time was when 
the Church commanded her young men to shoulder 
the musket and fight her battles, and the time is 
coming when we will have to exterminate our 
enemies.' " 

Rome allies herself with a political party only to 
increase her own power and wealth. Twelve mil- 
lion dollars worth of property has been accumulated 
by the priests for their Church in Washington, and 
nearly all of it since the war. It is asserted, over 
and over again, that by far the largest part of this 
immense amount has been obtained from Protest- 
ants ; much of it from government clerks, by a 
system of begging, with more or less coercion in it, 
and by appropriations which are regularly made to 
Romish institutions. It is said that all of the Pro- 
testant holdings in the city do not amount to a half 
of that amount. A writer who knows whereof he 
writes, says, in speaking on this subject : " This 
immense ecclesiastical power has now become a 
power of frightful proportions. Satolli and his 
retinue are referred to by the daily press of the city 
as the papal legation. This is by Roman Catholic 
direction, or approval, of course, as nothing goes 
into the press which has not the approval of the 
Church. Government officials do their work under 
a Jesuitic surveillance that puts the whole govern- 
ment system practically under the eye of the Romish 
priesthood. The clerks are expected to pay money 



30 Romanizing the National Government. 

over to the nuns. In the civil service examina- 
tions the Roman Catholics succeed better, because 
they can get in advance the questions of the exami- 
nation. Romanists are not over a seventh of the 
population, their votes are not over a tenth part of 
our voting population, and their illiteracy, foreign 
spirit and birth, would make their just proportion 
in official positions a mere handful. Why do they 
preponderate in Washington? For political effect. 
There are government clerks who thus pay from ten 
to twenty -five per cent, of their wages for the purpose 
of holding their positions. On pay days in the pen- 
sion bureau, as the clerks receive their pay, they 
file out between two nuns, who stand on either side, 
with boxes extended." As is well known the Roman 
Catholic church maintains an Indian bureau in 
Washington. All of us remember how a committee 
of Roman prelates endeavored to prevent the confir- 
mation by the Senate of a man who was the choice, 
not only of the President, but of all who believed 
that the Indians should be educated in government 
schools, and made intelligent citizens. It is the 
misfortune of the Roman Catholic Church in this 
country that it seeks to control education. The 
misfortune lies in the fact that its purpose leads to 
constant irritation of public feeling, and dispute, 
because the people of the United States are resolved 
that no church shall be permitted to do this. It is 
the primary object of all the Roman Catholic schools 
to make Roman Catholics, rather than American 
citizens. 



Priestly Lobbying at the Capitol. 31 

In eight years they have received from the 
government two million, three hundred and sixty- 
six thousand, four hundred and sixty-six dollars, to 
teach the Indians of the Northwest that the only 
true Church is the Roman Catholic, and to detach 
them from the Stars and Stripes." Every popish 
chapel is a standing protest against God's govern- 
ment, and a threat against the power and liberty of 
the countrv that shelters it. 

Why were Roman Catholics placed at the head of 
the national campaign committees of both the great 
political parties in the last presidential campaign ? 
Are there not able Protestants in either the Demo- 
cratic or Republican parties, who can be entrusted 
with these high duties ? Is it not about time that 
Presidents, and Cabinets, and Congressmen, were 
called to a strict account for pandering to a church 
that has been the assassin of liberty in every land 
where she has obtained a foothold ? 

The Romish Hierarchy is making itself solid in 
Washington, the centre of our National Govern- 
ment. They have a great University there. They 
have the Indian Bureau, the chief object of which, 
it is said, is to influence Legislation in favor of 
Rome. And now there is a new Cardinal Satolli, 
and another of the same sort in Baltimore, only 
forty miles away. Those men are " particular 
friends" of the President, and graciously assist him 
in crowding the departments of government with 
Romanists, who owe their first allegiance to the Pope 
of Rome. It is discovered by those who reside in 



32 No Protestant Need Apply. 

Washington, and who know whereof they affirm, 
that in Washington, to be a Protestant is a disquali- 
fication for appointment to government service. 

General Morgan, late Indian Commissioner, has 
issued a pamphlet, in which he shows clearly — giv- 
ing dates and facts — how priests and bishops of the 
Romish Church combined to defeat President Har- 
rison because he supported General Morgan in try- 
ing to reform the abuse made of government money 
in supporting Parochial schools. Their whole 
strength was directed to this end, — and they since 
boast that it was their church that elected Mr. 
Cleveland. And like a grateful man he has most 
generously repaid them. Undoubtedly, he has done 
more towards handing over our government and 
nation to ttie Pope of Rome, than all his predeces- 
sors in the presidential office put together. 

Surely it is no time for the cry of " No danger," 
so often heard. The danger would be less, however, 
if the Protestant Pulpit, and the Press of the coun- 
try, were true to the Country and to God. 

However pessimistic and discouraging the con- 
tents of this introductory chapter may seem to be, 
nothing but the truth has been here written, and 
still the half has not been told. 

" But," it may be asked, " is there no rift in the 
cloud ? What encouraging things have you to say ? 
What promise is there of deliverance ?" We can- 
not speak of all the sources of encouragement, we 
will present a few. In the first place, as the apathy 
and cowardice of Protestants, and of Protestant 



A Bugle- Blast from Heaven. 33 

Ministers, and of the Religious Press, as well as the 
Political Press, of the land are a deadly peril to 
our liberties, so the faithful few among these inspire 
us with the hope that they will do much towards 
awakening others to a sense of the dangers that 
menace the nation. God's voice addresses the Prot- 
estant Ministers, and the Religious Press of our land 
especially. " Son of Man, speak to the children of 
thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the 
sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a 
man of their coasts, and set him for their watch- 
man: if when he seeth the sw r ord come upon the 
land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people ; 
then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, 
and taketh not warning ; if the sworcl come and take 
him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 
He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not 
warning ; his blood shall be upon him : but he that 
taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the 
watchman see the sword come, and blow not the 
trumpet, and the people be not warned ; if the sword 
come and take any person from among them, he is 
taken away in his iniquity ; but his blood will I re- 
quire at the ivatchman's hand. So thou, son of man, 
I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel ; 
therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, 
and warn them from me." 

A few Protestant Ministers, and Editors of relig- 
ious papers have heard this " Word of the Lord/' 
and are doing brave and glorious work for God and 
Country. It will be encouraging and inspiring to 



34 The Irrepressible Conflict. 

our readers to have set before them a most truthful 
and awakening article from the New York Christian 
Advocate of October 28, 1880. We hope that most 
excellent paper will now utter many such bugle- 
blasts. The article is on " Homes' Conspiracy." 
" The Pope, in his Encyclical letter of December 8, 
1864, published in latin, and issued to the Romish 
Church of the whole world for its guidance, con- 
demned eighty of the leading and ruling principles 
of modern civilization, and indicated what princi- 
ples are to guide that church in its endeavor to 
bring the dark ages upon us again. Below are a 
few of the principles, selected by their numbers, as 
they stand in the encyclical : — 

39. The people are not the source of all civil 
power. 

19. The Romish Church has a right to exercise 
its authority, without having any limits set to it by 
the civil power. 

24. The Romish Church has the right to avail 
itself of force, and to use the temporal power for that 
purpose. 

.26. The Romish Church has an innate and legiti- 
mate right to acquire, hold, and use property without 
limit. 

27. The Pope and priests ought to have dominion 
over temporal affairs. 

30. The Romish Church and her ecclesiastics have 
a right to immunity from civil laws. 

31. The Romish clergy should be tried for civil 
and criminal offenses only in ecclesiastical courts. 



Rome's Arrogant Demands. 35 

42. In cases of conflict between the ecclesiastical 
and civil powers, the ecclesiastical powers ought to 
prevail. 

45. The Romish Church has the right to interfere 
in the discipline of the public schools, and in the 
arrangement of the studies of the public schools, 
and in the choice of teachers for these schools. 

47. Public schools open to all children for the 
education of the young should be under the control 
of the Romish Church, and should not be subject to 
the civil power, nor made to conform to the opinions 
of the age. 

48. While teaching primarily the knowledge of 
natural things, the public schools must not be sep- 
arated from the faith and power of the Romish 
Church. 

53. The civil power has no right to assist persons 
to regain their freedom who have once adopted a 
religious life. 

54. The civil power is inferior and subordinate to 
the ecclesiastical power, and in legislated questions 
of jurisdiction should yield to it. 

55. Church and State should be united. 

78. The Roman Catholic religion should be the 
only religion of the State, and all other modes of 
worship should be excluded. 

" The incompetency of the Romish system of 
education to make self-supporting citizens has been 
perfectly demonstrated in this city by an examina- 
tion, covering in five years over two hundred thous- 
and cases of pauperism. These showed that the 



36 An Appeal to Freemen. 



Romish education produced three and a half times 
as many paupers per thousand pupils as the public 
schools. A similar investigation in this city, cover- 
ing fifteen years and four months, including over 
eleven hundred thousand cases, demonstrated that 
the Romish education turned out upon society more 
than three and a quarter times as many criminals 
per thousand pupils as the public schools." Dexter 
A. Hawkins. 

The Christian Advocate goes on to say : — " When 
the encyclical, from which the above extracts were 
made, was issued, we were so startled by its abom- 
inable doctrines that we had ten thousand copies 
printed, largely at our own expense, and sent through 
the country, with the following appeal. We have 
not made a hobby of denouncing Romanism ; but 
we believe every word that we wrote then, and have 
seen much to confirm it since." 

The following is the " Appeal." " Eternal vigi- 
lance is the price of liberty. Protestants ! Free- 
men ! Awake ! 

" The American people, struggling with an open 
foe to their liberties, must not forget the insidious 
enemy secretly undermining them. 

" On the 8th of December, 1864, Pope Pius IX. 
issued his encyclical. Popery is the most gigantic 
system for the exercise and consolidation of pow T er 
which the world has ever seen. It enforces its 
decrees, both temporal and spiritual, under the 
doom of damnation to those who disobey. In the 
encyclical every dogma of deception is avowed by 
the Apostolic See itself. 



True to the Pope, False to Liberty. 37 

" The right to inflict temporal penalties for the vio- 
lation of sacred laws is claimed. And what is 
that ? History answers . The Inquisition ! The 
auto da fe ! 

" Liberty of the press, liberty of conscience and of 
worship, are called c deliriums/ and are denounced 
as ' the liberty of perdition ! ' 

" Truth and falsehood are artfully woven together ; 
and the whole document, in spirit and word, openly 
condemns the Constitution of our country. To be 
true to the pope is to be false to the rights of man, 
as announced in the Declaration, and embodied in 
the Constitution. All there is of freedom in Ger- 
many, in Switzerland, in England, in the United 
States, is the fruits of the Reformation, and exists in 
spite of Popery. Protestantism and freedom stand 
or fall together. Catholicism and despotism are one 
and inseparable. 

" We advocate no war on Roman Catholics ; but 
we say to the American people, Awake ! Arouse ! 

" Oh, for a trumpet blast to warn free governments 
of the danger to their liberties to the last. Roman- 
ism seeks ecclesiastical through political power. Its 
votaries are a unit in action. 

" Do we address a Protestant clergyman ? We send 
you the encyclical. It is a proof of the spirit and 
tendency of popery. Have you the courage to 
unmask its designs to your people? Patriots ! Patri- 
ots ! Beware of the secret influence and political 
power of popery. To be true to the pope is to be 
false to the rights of man." 



38 Work of the Patriotic Orders. 

Were the patriotic spirit, and christian faithful- 
ness of this noble Editor imitated by all religions 
journals and christian ministers throughout the land, 
the betrayal of our country by the great majority of 
the secular and political papers would not be so 
great a calamity as it now is felt to be. But those 
that are loyal and true are doing a magnificent 
work. 

Another source of encouragement we find in the 
work that is being done by the numerous Patriotic 
Societies. The most important of all these societies 
and orders is what is known as the American Pro- 
tective Association. It is of recent origin, and yet 
already claims a membership, according to the New 
York Herald, of three and a half millions. This 
noble army is the most thoroughly patriotic, and the 
most thoroughly devoted to the welfare of the 
country of any of the patriotic orders. Excellent, 
and of great value to the country as all the orders 
are, most of them, or, it may be, all of them are 
mutual beneficial societies, and no doubt thousands 
in joining them had regard only, or at least chiefly 
to this fact. 

But the A. P. A. is exclusively patriotic, and devoted 
to the defence of the Stars and Stripes and all those 
glorious institutions which that Flag symbolizes. 
This splendid Association has surely been raised up 
by Almighty God as a strong bulwark against the 
aggressions of Popery. Its very existence at this 
time recalls to mind the words of the prophet: 
" When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the 



True View of the A. P. A. 39 



Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against 
him." In the six or seven years, or so, of its exist- 
ence, it has done more to stir the national sentiment 
than all the other orders and societies during their 
whole existence. Many thousands of the members 
of the other societies also belong to the A. P. A. 
because of its exclusively patriotic character. Al- 
ready this great organization is giving a good ac- 
count of itself, and because of this it is honored 
with the hatred of the priests and their people, 
who, with all Roman Catholic editors, are doing all 
in their power to make it unpopular and odious, 
hoping thus to destroy its influence, and, if pos- 
sible, its very existence. Not only Romanists, but 
many so-called Protestants, who bow the knee to the 
Popish Baal, join with the Papists in traducing this 
noble Association, and speaking of it as " bigoted " 
and " un-American," etc. The priests and editors 
of Rome have raised this cry, and multitudes of 
others, who are not Romanists, join in the shameful 
cry, in order to excuse their indifference, or their 
partisanship, or their mercenary spirit. 

Let them hurl their charges of " bigotry " and 
" un- Americanism " at the Church of Rome, which 
is the most bigoted and un-American of anything 
it is possible to conceive. We call men patriots who 
rush forward to repel a hostile invasion. The 
Roman Catholic Church in this country is a hostile 
invasion. From the Pope, and the cardinals, and 
the bishops, and the priests, down to poor Patrick, 
who believes and worships, and votes exactly as his 



40 Who are the Bigots 1 



priest tells him, they are foreigners, who have in- 
vaded this land with the declared purpose, as we 
have seen, to undermine Protestantism and destroy 
the American Constitution and American laws. And 
the noble men who rush forward to defend our 
liberties are called " bigots " and " un-American." 
Have those who raise this false and shameful cry, 
considered the insane " bigotry " and " un-Ameri- 
canism " of the Romish invaders ? Look at a few 
facts. Every Roman Catholic bishop takes the fol- 
lowing oath: — "Heretics, schismatics, and rebels 
against our Lord (the Pope), or his successors, I will 
to my utmost persecute and oppose" Is that bigotry ? 
The following is quoted from page 145 of the " Full 
Catechism of the Catholic Religion," published with 
the approbation of Cardinal Wiseman : " Every one 
is obliged, under the pain of eternal damnation, to 
become a member of the Catholic Church; to be- 
lieve her doctrines; to use her means of grace; and 
to submit to her authority." And this most bigoted 
and shameful doctrine is taught in all their schools 
and churches. Their teaching everywhere is that 
out of their church there is " no salvation." All 
Protestants, being " heretics" are doomed, they say, 
to " eternal damnation." Is not this the most abom- 
inable bigotry ? 

The Constitution of the United States guarantees 
liberty of conscience. It says : " Congress shall 
make no law respecting an establishment of reli- 
gion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This 
liberty of conscience is the glory of our land. But 



Trampling on the Constitution. 41 

the Romish Church sets itself dead against this 
American doctrine. Pius IX., in his " Syllabus of 
Errors/' 1864, declares that man to be in error who 
says : " Every man is free to embrace and profess 
the religion he shall believe true, guided by the 
light of reason." And so we see that this foreign 
Pope audaciously dares to teach citizens of this free 
country to trample on the Constitution, in order to 
obey his laws. 

Peter Dens, the great and recognized expounder 
of Romish ecclesiastical laws, say . " The Pope can 
dispense with any law. The Constitutions and de- 
crees of the Pope are explanations of the Divine 
law, and are therefore binding as soon as known. 
The Church does not recognize the right of any 
government to say whether or not the pontifical 
decrees shall be enforced. She is supreme, and inde- 
pendent, and can therefore admit of no intermed- 
dling with her authority. . . . The State ought 
to recognize and carry into effect the laws of the 
Church/' etc. 

Here, then, we see, without a doubt, that what is 
called the Church of Rome, is far more political 
than religious. It is a tremendous political machine, 
thoroughly despotic, and entirely antagonistic to 
our American system of government. The Roman 
Catholic profession of faith, having the sanction of 
the Council which met in Baltimore, in 1884, con- 
tains the following oath of allegiance to the Pope : 
" And I pledge and swear true obedience to the 
Roman Pontiff, vicar of Jesus Christ, and successor 



42 Testimony of Gladstone and Bismarck. 

of the blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles." Such 
an oath, of course, is treason to the United States. 
It is certain that, as declared by the two great states- 
men of this age, Gladstone and Bismarck, " The 
allegiance demanded by the Pope is inconsistent 
with true citizenship." And this terrible despotism 
that has cursed so many nations, and crushed out 
all liberty, it is the purpose of Rome to establish in 
this country in the place of our present Government 
and laws. Dr. Brownson, in his Catholic Review, for 
July, 1864, says : " Undoubtedly, it is the intention 
of the Pope to possess this country. In this inten- 
tion he is aided by the Jesuits and all Catholic pre- 
lates and priests." 

To prevent so great a calamity to this country, 
and to the world, is the noble purpose of the A. P. A. 

As every effort is being made by Romanists to 
weaken and destroy the influence of this great patri- 
otic body of patriots, we will here present an outline 

of the 

" Platform of the 
American Protective Association; 
adopted by the Supreme Council, at Iowa, May 4, 
1894:— 

1. " Loyalty to true Americanism, which knows 
neither birthplace, race, creed, or party, is the first 
requisite for membership in the American Protective 
Association. 

2. The American Protective Association is not a 
political party, and does not control the political 
affiliations of its members, but it teaches them to 
be intensely active in their political duties in or out 



Splendid Platform of the A. P. A. 43 

of party lines, because it believes that all the prob- 
lems confronting our people will best be solved by 
a conscientious discharge of the duties of citizen- 
ship by every individual. 

3. While tolerant of all creeds, it holds that sub- 
jection to, and support of any ecclesiastical power 
not created and controlled by American citizens, 
and which claims equal, if not greater sovereignty 
than the government of the United States, is irre- 
concilable with American citizenship. It is, there- 
fore, opposed to the holding of offices in National, 
State, or Municipal goverment by any subject or 
supporter of such ecclesiastical power. 

4. We uphold the Constitution of the United 
States of America, and no portion of it more than 
its guarantee of religious liberty ; but we hold this 
religious liberty to be guaranteed to the individual, 
and not to mean that under its protection any un- 
American ecclesiastical power can claim absolute 
control over the education of children growing up 
under the Stars and Stripes. 

5. We consider the unsectarian free public school 
to be the bulwark of American institutions, the best 
place for the education of American children. To 
keep them as such, we protest against the employ- 
ment of subjects of any un-American ecclesiastical 
power as officers or teachers of our public schools. 

6. We condemn the support out of the public 
treasury by direct appropriation, or by contract, of 
any sectarian school, reformatory or other institu- 
tion, not owned and controlled by the public author- 
ity. 



44 Plea for Good Citizenship. 

7. Believing that exemption from taxation is 
equivalent to a grant of public funds, we demand 
that no real or personal property be exempt from 
taxation, the title of which is not vested in the 
National or State Governments, or in any of their 
sub-divisions. 

8. We protest against the enlistment in the United 
States army or navy, or the militia of any State, of 
any person not an actual citizen of the United States. 

9. We demand for the protection of our citizen 
laborers the prohibition of the importation of pauper 
labor, and the restriction of all immigration except 
to persons who can show their ability and honest 
intention to become self-supporting American citi- 
zens. 

10. We demand the change of the National natu- 
ralization laws by a repeal of the act authorizing the 
naturalization of minors without a previous declar- 
ation of intention, and by providing that no alien 
shall be naturalized, or permitted to vote in any 
State in the Union, who cannot speak the language 
of the land, and who cannot prove seven years con- 
tinuous residence in this country from the date of 
his declaration of intention. 

11. We protest against the gross negligence and 
laxity with which the Judiciary of the land admin- 
ister the present naturalization laws, and against 
the practice of naturalizing aliens at the expense 
of committees, or candidates, as the most prolific 
sources of the present prostitution of American citi- 
zenship to the basest uses. 



General Lafayette's Warning. 45 

12. We demand that all National or State legis- 
lation, affecting financial, commercial, or industrial 
interests, be general in character, and in no instance 
in favor of any one section of the country, or of any 
one class of people." 

In this noble and truly patriotic platform, or 
statement of principles, there is not even a sugges- 
tion of " bigotry," and it is altogether American 
from the first word to the last. As there is this 
Romish political party in this country whose de- 
clared purpose is to destroy our government, our 
only safety is in a great Protestant and patriotic 
party, whose votes shall be cast solidly against this 
great enemy of liberty. The man who votes to 
place a Roman Catholic in any political office, or 
on any school board, or as a teacher in any public 
school, is disloyal to the flag, and to free institutions. 

Many eminent foreigners who are deeply inter- 
ested in this country, have warned the American 
people of the dangers that threaten us from the 
Church of Rome. General Layfayette, although a 
Romanist himself, declared that: — "If the Ameri- 
can Government is ever destroyed, it will be by the 
priests of Rome." 

Mr. Froude, the eminent English writer and his- 
torian, in a lecture delivered in this country, some 
years ago, said : — " Every true Catholic is bound to 
think and act as his priest tells him ; a Republic of 
true Roman Catholics becomes a theocracy ruled by 
the priests. It is only as they are a small minority 
that they can be loyal subjects under such a Consti- 



46 Shall We Destroy the Constitution f 

tution as the American. As their numbers grow 
they will assert their principles, more and more. 
Give them power, and the Constitution will be gone. A 
Roman Catholic majority under spiritual direction 
will control education, and muzzle the press" 

In this introductory chapter we have been able 
only to present an imperfect glance at the assump- 
tions and claims of the Church of Rome, and its rela- 
tions to our American institutions. It remains only 
to be said, by way of reminder, that these assumptions 
and claims are put forth in the name of God himself ; 
by one who solemnly claims to be God's Infallible 
Vice-gerent. Vicar General Preston, of New-York, it 
will be remembered, said : — " Every word spoken by 
the Pope from his high chair is the voice of the Holy 
Ghost, and must be obeyed." If this statement is 
false it is the most shameful, and inexcusable blas- 
phemy. If it is true, and can be proved to be true, 
then it is the duty of all American citizens to make 
haste and destroy our Constitution ; break up our 
public schools; give up the Protestant religion, and 
to lay all our civil and religious liberties and insti- 
tutions at the feet of the Pope. In this land there 
are about eight or nine millions of people who be- 
lieve that the Pope is the infallible ruler of this 
world, and of this nation, and whose votes are given 
to make him the actual ruler of these United States. 
The other millions deny his pretensions, and refuse 
to put their necks under his yoke. 

It will be seen then that it is of the utmost import- 
ance to know with infallible certainty what is the real 



Why Priests Hate the Bible. 47 

character of Popery. It is, no doubt, because the 
priests of Rome know that Almighty God himself 
has given us in his Holy Bible, an infallible portrait 
of the Church of Rome, that they so strongly op- 
pose the reading of that sacred Book, To the study 
of this Book we will now address ourselves. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE LITTLE HORN. 

Popery in its Childhood. 

As intimated in the introductory chapter, this 
book is not intended to be a mere history of the 
Roman Catholic Church, although it will contain so 
much of her history, used in illustration of the 
scriptural statements concerning her character, that 
he who reads this book with attention, will know 
much more of the popish system than the man who 
simply reads even the best history of popery ever 
written ; for although he who reads the best history 
of the Romish Church, and judging her by her 
fruits, will know that her character is bad, yet 
he cannot know her true, and real self, unless he 
studies her in the light of divine revelation. 

Very many most intelligent christians do not 
know that the Bible contains a striking likeness, 
and a full length portrait of this mysterious " woman/' 
whose life, and character, and doings have occupied 
so much space in human history, and so deeply 
affected the destiny of nations, and the welfare of 
unnumbered millions of our race. As the rouged 
and painted harlot disguises her true, or real face 
from the observation of men, so " The Mother of all 
the churches " has for many years succeeded in so dis- 
guising herself as to hide her real face from the 
observation of mankind. Only in the portrait that 

48 



Antichrist Foretold. 49 

the Infinite Artist himself has presented to us in 
the Bible can we see the Church of Rome without 
disguise. And no doubt it is the knowledge of this 
fact, by many, at least, of the bishops and priests of 
Rome, that has led them to oppose so strenuously 
the study of the Bible by the people. The preten- 
sions and demands of the Roman Hierarchy are so 
extreme, claiming to possess even the attributes and 
powers, and prerogatives of Almighty God himself, 
that many intelligent Protestant and Protestant 
ministers, are led to believe that her vast and exclu- 
sive claims to holiness and authority must have some 
basis in truth. It seems impossible that a vast 
organization that claims to be " the sole depositary 
of all truth," the only true church of God, " out of 
which there is no salvation," and that claims to be 
superior to all kings, and laws, and governments, 
and to hold the keys of Heaven and hell, is nothing 
but a stupendous system of pretense, falsehood, and 
hypocracy. Thus many, while rejecting her extreme 
pretensions, are willing to accord her a place as a 
part of the true church of God. Others, who are 
somewhat familiar with her history, so marked by 
persecution, and tyranny, and blood, look on the 
Church of Rome as the great Anti-Christ of the 
scriptures, and the great en^my of God and his true 
people. 

The first clear reference to the Church of Rome 
that we find in the Holy Scriptures is in the book 
of Daniel. 

Many christians pass by the prophetical portions 



50 Prophecy Proof of Inspiration. 

of this remarkable book in despair. And yet a 
serious study of the book, in connection with the 
study of history, will make it appear to be one of 
the most interesting and instructive books of the 
Bible. Prophecy is anticipated history, and history 
is the true interpreter of prophecy. God only can 
infallibly anticipate history, or foretell the events 
that are still in the womb of the future. There is 
scarcely any book in the Bible that bears more con- 
clusive testimony to the Divine inspiration of the 
Bible than the book of Daniel. The remarkable 
fulfilment of the predictions contained in this book 
has led infidels to insist that the book was written 
after the events had taken place. This has been 
the contention of many infidels from the days of 
Porphyry, in the third century until the present 
time ; but we shall see that Daniel's predictions have 
been in course of fulfilment during hundreds of 
years past, and are being fulfilled at this very 
moment. 

The system of Popery is first brought to our 
notice as a " little horn " by the Prophet Daniel, in 
the seventh chapter of his book. But in order to 
reach that " little horn " fairly and understandingly, 
we must take a hasty glance at the wonderful statue 
of gold, silver, brass and iron, spoken of in the 
second chapter. There we are told that the great 
and haughty monarch of Babylon, whose empire 
was the most powerful and extensive in the world, 
had a dream that troubled him very much, although 
he had entirely forgotten the details, or even the sub- 



The Monarch's Dream. 51 

ject of it. Daniel, who was a Jew in government 
employ, was enabled, miraculously, to tell the King 
exactly what he had dreamed, and then to explain 
to him the meaning of the dream. Daniel, having 
been brought into the monarch's presence, said to 
him : — " Thou, King, sawest and beheld, a great 
image. This great image, whose brightness was 
excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was 
terrible. The head of this image was of fine gold, 
his breast, and his arms of silver, his belly and his 
thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron, 
and part of clay. Thou sawest that a stone was cut 
out without hands, which smote image upon his feet 
that were of iron and clay, and brake them to 
pieces," and Daniel, in giving the interpretation, 
declared that the four metals comprising the image 
represented four Kingdoms, or world empires, and 
that the head of gold represented his own rich and 
powerful empire. " Thou art this head of gold." 

The history of the world for several hundred 
years from that time was in reality the history of 
these four world empires, the Chaldean, the Persian, 
the Grecian and the Roman Empires. But we are 
especially interested just now in the lower portion 
of the image, which represents the Roman Empire. 
" And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron : 
forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces, and subdueth 
all things, and as iron breaketh all these, shall it 
break in pieces and bruise." Iron fitly represents 
the Roman Empire that was distinguished for its 
irresistible strength. Gibbon, in his Decline and 



52 The Fourth Empire. 

Fall of the Roman Empire, without any intention 
of commenting on these words of the Prophet, says : 
" The arms of the Republic, sometimes vanquished 
in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with 
rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, 
the ocean ; and the images of gold, or silver, or 
brass, that might serve to represent the nations, and 
their Kings, were successively broken by the iron 
monarchy of Rome." 

Rome was for centuries a terrible, hard, crushing, 
devastating power, subduing Kingdoms, overthrow- 
ing governments, and constitutions, and the liberties 
of nations, " with an iron hand," and without feeling 
or regret. An interesting and accurate writer, Mr. 
Irving, says : " The Roman Empire did beat down 
the constitution, and establishment of all other 
Kingdoms ; abolishing their independence, and 
bringing them into the most entire subjection ; 
humbling the pride, subjecting the will, using the 
property, and trampling upon the power and dig- 
nity of all other nations. For by this was the 
Roman power distinguished from all the rest that it 
was the work of almost as many centuries as those 
were of years, the fruit of a thousand battles, in 
which millions of men were slain. It made room 
for itself as does a battering ram, by continual suc- 
cessive blows, it ceased not to beat and bruise all 
nations so long as they continued to offer any 
resistance." 

But this mighty Roman empire, strong and irre- 
sistible as it was for centuries, had within it elements 



Iron and Clay Will Not Mix. 53 

of weakness which at length destroyed it. We read : 
" And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and 
part of clay, so the Kingdom shall be partly strong 
and partly broken (or brittle)/' " And whereas thou 
sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle 
themselves with the seed of men ; but they shall not 
cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed 
with clay." It is an instructive fact, and especially 
to us who live in these United States, and at this 
time, when the great influx of swarms of foreigners, 
of the most undesirable sort, are felt to be a menace 
to the welfare of the nation, that the powerful 
Roman empire was destroyed by the rushing in of 
the hosts of foreigners, who settled in the country, 
but had no real love for, or interest in the country 
or its institutions. As the Goths and Vandals and 
Huns, and other barbarous tribes poured into 
Rome, and enjoyed the protection of her laws and 
the privileges of her institutions, and thus, instead 
of being a strengthening to the nation, weakened, 
and at last destroyed it ; so at this moment the hosts 
of foreigners who have come to this great and free 
and generous country, for their own advantage, early 
taking advantage of the liberality of our laws, be- 
come voters, but not Americans. 

They vote as their priests dictate, and that is al- 
ways in the interest of their despotic Church, and 
against the best interests of the country. It is for 
this very purpose they are brought to this land by 
their priests, who rely on these foreign Romanists 
to give them the balance of power at the ballot box, 



54 The Prophetic Vision. 

and political ascendency in the nation. And the 
men who are elected to the State Legislatures and 
to the National Congress, by such votes, will take 
care to prevent such legislation as shall restrict 
immigration or change the naturalization laws. 

We see that the word of God, and the ruin of a 
mighty empire, give warning to the American Re- 
public, to guard against an enemy that at this 
moment is threatening her very existence. 

We have dwelt thus on the fourth, or iron, empire, 
— Rome — because it was in pagan Rome that papacy 
had its birth. 

About forty-eight years after this remarkable 
dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Daniel 
himself had a dream. It is recorded in the seventh 
chapter. It was even more remarkable and instruc- 
tive than the dream of the King. Daniel tells his 
dream in this way : — " I saw in my vision by night, 
and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon 
the great sea. And four great beasts came up from 
the sea, diverse one from another. The first was 
like a lion, and had eagles' wings : I beheld until 
the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up 
from the earth, and made to stand upon its feet as 
a man, and a man's heart was given unto it. And 
behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear, and 
it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs 
in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it : and they 
said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After 
this behold, and lo, another, like a leopard, which 
had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl ; and 



The Angelic Interpreter. 55 

the beast had also four heads, and dominion was 
given unto it. After this I saw in the night visions, 
and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, 
and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth : 
it devoured, and broke in pieces, and stamped the 
residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from 
all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten 
horns. I considered the horns and there came up 
among them another little horn, before which 
there were three of the first horns plucked up by 
the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like 
the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." 
Daniel tells us in the same chapter that he felt 
a very great desire to know the meaning of this 
remarkable dream, and a Heavenly being, an angel, 
explained the dream to him. He said in expla- 
nation : — " These great beasts are four Kings, or 
Kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth." But 
Daniel was particularly anxious for an explanation 
of the fourth beast that was so " dreadful and terri- 
ble" that there was nothing to which it could be 
compared. The angel gave the prophet this inter- 
pretation. " The fourth beast shall be the fourth 
Kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from 
all Kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, 
and shall tread it down, and break it to pieces. And 
the ten horns out of this Kingdom are ten Kings 
that shall arise ; and another shall arise after them, 
and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall 
subdue three Kings. And he shall speak great 
words against the Most High, and think to change 
times and laws." 



56 Significance of the Symbols. 

It will be seen that according to the angelic inter- 
pretation, the dream of the King of Babylon, and 
the dream of Daniel are the same. They both pre- 
dicted the rise and destiny of four great mon- 
archies. The plainest teachings of history show 
that these four great monarchies are the Chal- 
dean, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman 
empires. In the rise and succession, and histories 
of these four, the prophesies find their wonderful 
fulfilment, and in no others. We will only give a 
general view of these world empires-^-the briefest 
glance — as a full exegesis of the texts does not come 
within our purpose. 

The "image" presented to the mind of the Chal- 
dean King was more likely to impress him, as he 
was a monarch who delighted in splendor and 
show and his mind was set on royal pomp and 
power. To Daniel the empires of the world were 
represented by great " beasts" because of the rela- 
tion they would sustain to the Kingdom of God in 
this world ; and because of the things the true 
Church of God would have to suffer from their des- 
potic power and cruelty. 

The Babylonian empire was represented by a 
" lion," having the wings of an eagle, as symbolical 
of the greatness of the empire, she being at that 
time the greatest empire that had ever existed on 
the earth, the greatest in wealth and splendor, and 
power ; and thus fitly represented by the lion, " the 
King of beasts." The eagle's wings represented the 
rapidity of her conquests, and her growth, she hav- 



National Characteristics. 57 

ing been brought to the most dazzling height of 
splendor during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The 
Persian Kingdom was well represented by " a bear, 
with three ribs in its mouth ;" for as the bear is the 
most surly, and voracious, and cruel of animals, so 
the Persians were in their laws, penalties and cus- 
toms, exceedingly cruel, and devoid of all pity or 
sensibility. Instances of their cruelty abound in 
almost all the historians who have written of their 
affairs, from Herodotus down to Ammianus Marcel- 
linus, who describes them as proud, cruel, and 
exercising the power of life and death over their 
slaves, and obscure plebians. He says, " They pull 
off the skin, in pieces or altogether, from living per- 
sons." Rollin relates that one of the royal judges, 
condemned to death for receiving a bribe, was to 
have his skin taken off, while yet alive, and fastened 
to the seat where he used to sit, and give judgment, 
as a warning to his son who was to occupy it after 
him. The Kings of Persia are spoken of as " the 
worst race of men that ever governed an empire." 
" A leopard" with four heads, and four wings, 
symbolizes the Empire of the Greeks. The leopard, 
although a small animal, is exceedingly brave, not 
being afraid to attack the most formidable beasts of 
the forest, even the lion and tiger. This bravery, 
and reckless daring was a characteristic of the 
Greeks. Alexander the Great, as he is called, on 
one occasion fought an army of six hundred thou- 
sand Persians, while he had but thirty-five thousand 
men. And at the battle of Arbela, with less than 



58 Hideous Beast with Ten Horns. 

fifty thousand soldiers, he fought and conquered a 
Persian army of over a million men, and broke the . 
power of the Persian empire. 

The " four wings " of the leopard symbolize the 
rapidity of his conquests. In a little more than a 
dozen years Alexander had conquered all the 
armies, and subdued all the Kingdoms and nations 
that dared to contend with him. 

The leopard had " four heads," and when Alex- 
ander was dead, his vast empire became divided 
between four of his great generals — Cassander, 
Lysimmacus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. But as the 
fourth beast was of special interest to Daniel, so is 
he also to us. Jerome, reckoned as one of the 
Christian Fathers, and who was born about the 
middle of the fourth century, said : — " The fourth 
empire, which now possesseth the world, is the 

Roman I greatly wonder that when he had 

before placed a lion, and a bear, and a leopard in 
three Kingdoms, he should compare the Roman 
Empire to no beast : unless perhaps that he might 
make the beast more formidable, he concealed the 
name, so that whatever we could imagine the most 
fierce in beasts, that we should imagine the Romans 
to be." Daniel's angelic teacher told him that the 
ten horns which he saw on the fourth beast u are ten 
Kings that shall arise," or rather ten Kingdoms. It 
is well known, and declared by Romish and Pro- 
testant writers alike, that the incursions of the 
Northern barbarians resulted in the breaking up of 
the Roman Empire, and it became divided into ten 



The Ten Horns are Ten Kingdoms. 59 

Kingdoms. Sir Isaac Newton and other eminent 
students of the book of Daniel, give us the names of 
those Kingdoms. We need not mention them here. 
Daniel in relating his dream, as will be remembered, 
said that among the ten horns which he saw on the 
head of the fourth beast he saw " a little horn " come 
up among them. It is with this little horn that we 
have especially to do, for this little horn is the Anti- 
Christ, and that this Anti-Christ is none other than 
the Roman Catholic Church, shall now be made so 
plain that " he that runneth may read." 

It must, in all candor, be stated that there are 
some authors and theologians who give another 
interpretation ; but these are generally Roman 
Catholics, who are bound to reject this view, or to 
give up their Church, and such as are adherents of 
State Churches, or such as take their views from 
such biassed writers as we have suggested. Irenaeus, 
one of the christian fathers, who lived in the second 
century, treating of the fraud, pride and tyranny of 
Anti-Christ, asserts, that the little horn is Anti- 
Christ." Cyril, or St. Cyril, as he is called, who lived 
about the middle of the fourth century, speaking of 
Anti-Christs coming in the latter times of the Roman 
Empire, says : — " We teach these things not of our 
own invention, but having learned them out of the 
divine Scriptures, and especially out of the pro- 
phecy of Daniel which was just now read, even as 
the archangel Gabriel interpreted, saying thus : The 
fourth beast shall be the fourth Kingdom upon 
earth, which shall exceed all the Kingdoms; but 



60 The Church Paganized. 

that this is the empire of the Romans, ecclesiastical 

interpreters have delivered Its ten horns are 

ten Kings that shall arise ; and after them shall 
arise another King who shall exceed in wickedness 
all that were before him." Theodoret, St. Austin, 
St. Jerome, and nearly the rest of the " Fathers " 
agree that the fourth empire was the Roman, that the 
Roman Empire was to he divided between ten Kings, 
and among them would arise Anti-Christ, symbo- 
lized by the u little horn." 

This little horn is intended to teach that the 
popish system would be small in its beginning ; but 
gradually, and almost imperceptibly rising into great 
power and authorit)^. It is easy to understand how 
the pretended conversion of the Emperor Constan- 
tine, in the fourth century, and his willingness to 
make his newly found religion conform as much as 
possible to pagan ideas, would be likely to cause 
multitudes of pagans to enter the so-called Christian 
Church. Constantine, the Roman Emperor, on pro- 
fessing himself a christian, undertook to convert the 
Kingdom of Christ into a Kingdom of this world, 
by exalting the teachers of the new religion to the 
same state of affluence, grandeur, and influence 
in the empire as had been enjoyed by pagan 
priests, and secular officers in the state. The pro- 
fessed ministers of Jesus having now a wide field 
opened to them for gratifying their lust of power, 
wealth and dignity, the connection between a 
christian profession and the cross of Christ was at 
an end. Constantine undertook to make the gov- 
ernment of the church conform as much as possible 



Growth of the Little Horn. 61 

to the government of the state. Then originated 
the proud and high-sounding clerical titles, so much 
prized and gloried in at the present time by the 
Church of Rome. Hence there came to be patri- 
archs, archbishops, exarchs, canons, etc., intended by 
the Emperor to correspond with the regular secular 
offices and dignities connected with the civil admin- 
istration of the empire. Taking these newly con- 
stituted dignitaries of the church into his special 
patronage, he loaded them with wealth, and worldly 
honors, and richly endowed their churches, thus 
developing in the hearts and lives of those who 
called themselves ministers of the meek and lowly 
Jesus a love of riches and worldly honors. 

When the seat of empire had been removed 
from Rome to Constantinople, the bishop of Rome 
found himself constantly growing in importance by 
reason of the fact that the people having been 
accustomed to entertain the most superstitious rever- 
ence for their pagan priests, transferred this super- 
stitious reverence to him. Then the bishop of Rome 
encouraged the people to seek his arbitration in 
matters of disagreement and dispute. At length 
the rich and noble would refer to his decision their 
disputes and disagreements, and even the rulers of 
states came to do this. As such attentions and flat- 
teries have a natural tendency to inflate the human 
heart with pride, so the bishops of Rome, swollen 
with vanity and conceit, began to put forth the most 
exaggerated claims to precedence over all other 
bishops. And thus we see how this little horn began 
to grow. 



CHAPTER III. 
Marvellous Growth of the Little Horn. 

Let us give attention to some things said by the 
angelic interpreter in regard to the Little Horn. 

1. It is said, " His look was more stout than his fel- 
lows." There seems to have been in this little horn 
a look of boldness, daring and defiance that was not 
observable in the other horns of the beast. Although 
this peculiarity is a striking feature of the Church 
of Rome, it does not of itself prove that church to 
be Antichrist; but taken in connection with the 
many other things that we have mentioned, it is of 
no little importance. It is the boldness and daring 
with which Papal Rome has always urged her 
most extravagant demands, that has been a striking 
element in her success. This little horn had, by the 
eleventh century, become so audacious as to claim 
the right to overturn royal thrones, and to absolve 
subjects from their oaths of allegiance to their 
rightful sovereigns. " This stout look," and the 
claim of making and unmaking Kings at pleasure, 
was most conspicuous in the person of Gregory VII., 
(A. D. 1073). " I have received," said he, " from 
God, the power of binding and loosing, in heaven 
and on earth ; and by this power I forbid Henry 
the fourth, Emperor of Germany, the government 
of the whole realm of Germany and Italy. I also 
loose all christians from the oaths they have taken 

62 



The Arrogance of Antichrist. 63 

to him ; and I decree that no man shall obey him 
as King." This same Pope also said : — " The 
Roman Pontiff alone can be called universal. He 
alone has a right to use imperial ornaments. Princes 
are bound to kiss his feet, and his only. He has a 
right to depose emperors. No book can be canon- 
ical without his authority. His sentence can be 
annulled by none ; but he may annul the decrees of 
all." Only imagine Peter, the fisherman ; " the first 
Pope of Rome," as the priests say, speaking in this 
" stout," and arrogant way ! 

2. The angel said of the little horn : — " He shall be 
diverse from the first" The government represented 
by the little horn would differ from all other govern- 
ments. Most learned commentators say this differ- 
ence consisted in the fact that while all other gov- 
ernments are simply civil, or secular, this power was 
to be both civil and ecclesiastical. But there have 
been, and are still, many national churches, and in 
nearly all cases, the reigning monarch is the head 
of the church as well as of the State. But the 
Pope of Rome, as we have already seen in the 
introductory chapter, claims to be the absolute ruler 
of the very thoughts and consciences of men. And 
not only does he claim the supreme government of 
the entire world, even claiming to dictate to kings 
and emperors ; but this world is not large enough for 
him, so that he declares that the Keys of Heaven 
and Hell have been put into his hands by Almighty 
God, so that his ghostly authority includes Heaven, 
and Earth, and Hell. 



64 Three Kingdoms Rooted Up. 

3. Daniel saw that before the Little Horn " were 
three of the first horns plucked up by the roots" That 
is, evidently, that in the midst of the ten Kingdoms 
into which the Roman Monarchy was to be divided, 
there should arise this Little Horn, Antichrist, that 
" would pluck up by the roots" three of these ten 
Kings, or Kingdoms. While the views of equally 
competent students of this prophecy differ as to 
what three kingdoms are referred to, they all agree 
that papal Rome did destroy three of the ten King- 
doms. As the purpose of this book is to present the 
best results of the best thinking of the best thinkers 
on the subject before us, instead of confusing the 
minds of the readers bj presenting the conflicting 
views, we present the conclusion arrived at by Sir 
Isaac Newton, one of the clearest and profoundest 
thinkers earth has ever produced. He says : — 
" Kings are put for Kingdoms, as above ; and there- 
fore the Little Horn is a little Kingdom. It was a 
horn of the fourth beast and rooted up three of his 
first horns; and therefore we are to look for it 
among the nations of the Latin empire, after the 
rise of the ten horns. In the eighth century, by 
rooting up and subduing the Exarchate of Ravena, 
the Kingdom of the Lombards, and the senate and 
dukedom of Rome, he acquired Peter's patrimony 
out of their dominions ; and thereby rose up as a 
temporal Prince or King, or horn of the fourth beast." 
This view is entertained by, perhaps, the great 
majority of the learned, while those who differ from 
this eminent student and thinker, name other King- 
doms than those named above. 



Popes Were Subject to Emperors. 65 

An interesting quotation from the second volume 
of that most reliable work, "Hallam's Middle 
Ages/' will plainly show that up to the ninth cen- 
tury the Popes of Rome were subject to the civil 
authority. This elegant writer and historian says : 
— " The Bishops acquired a great part of their ascen- 
dancy by a very respectable instrument of power, 
intellectual superiority. As they alone were ac- 
quainted with the art of writing, they were natu- 
rally entrusted with political correspondence, and 
with the framing of the laws. As they alone knew 
the elements of a few sciences, the education of 
royal families devolved on them as a neccessary 
duty. In the fall of Rome their influence upon the 
barbarians wore down the asperities of conquest, 
and saved the provincials half the shock of that 
tremendous revolution. As captive Greece is said 
to have subdued her Roman conqueror, so Rome in 
her own turn of servitude, cast the fetters of a moral 
captivity upon the fierce invaders of the North. 
Chiefly through the exertions of the Bishops, whose 
ambition may be forgiven for its effects, her religion, 
her language, in part even her laws, were trans- 
planted into the courts of Paris and Toledo, which 
became a degree less barbarous by imitation. 

" Notwithstanding, however, the great authority, 
and privileges of the church, it was decidedly sub- 
ject to the supremacy of the crown both during the 
continuance of the Western empire, and after its 
subversion. The emperors convoked, regulated, and 
dissolved universal councils ; the Kings of France, 



66 Charlemagne's Supremacy. 

and Spain, exercised the same rights over the 
synods of their national churches. The Ostrogoth 
Kings of Italy fixed by their edicts the limits 
within which matrimony was prohibited on account 
of consanguinity, and granted dispensations from 
them. 

" Though the Roman emperors left Episcopal elec- 
tions to the clergy and people of the diocese, in 
which they were followed by the Ostrogoths and 
Lombards, yet they often interfered so far as to 
confirm a decision, or to determine a contest. The 
Kings of France went further, and seem to have 
invariably either nominated the Bishop, or what was 
nearly tantamount, recommended their own candi- 
date to the electors. 

" But the sovereign who maintained with the 
greatest vigor his ecclesiastical supremacy was 
Charlemagne. 

" Most of the capitularies of his reign relate to the 
discipline of the church ; principally indeed taken 
from the ancient canons, but not the less receiving 
an additional sanction from his authority. Some 
of his regulations, which appear to have been 
original, are such as would to men of high church 
principles, even in modern times, seem to be infringe- 
ments of spiritual independence ; that no legend of 
doubtful authority should be read in the churches, 
but only canonical books, and that no saint should 
be honored whom the whole church did not 
acknowledge. These were not passed in a synod of 
bishops, but enjoined by the sole authority of the 



Gregory III. and Charles Martel. 67 



emperor, who seems to have arrogated a legislative 
power over the church which he did not possess in 
temporal affairs." 

These historical facts show that while up to even 
the eighth century the Little Horn had grown pro- 
digiously, he had by no means reached the robust 
stature which he presented inthe days of Hildebrand — 
Gregory VII. — and since. Not satisfied with the flat- 
teries, and fawnings, and fame, and riches, and 
power already secured, the bishop of Rome coveted 
to become a temporal King. The declaration of the 
angel that the little horn should " subdue three 
Kings," brings us to the beginning of the temporal 
sovereignty of the popes. 

After the removal of the seat of empire from 
Rome to Constantinople, and the invasion of the 
northern hordes, the emperors retained but a preca- 
rious hold on Rome and the West. 

The exarchate of Ravenna was still a part of the 
imperial domain, and was ruled by the representa- 
tive of the Emperor. 

In 740, in consequence of a quarrel between the 
Pope Gregory III. and the King of the Lombards, that 
warlike monarch invaded and laid waste the terri- 
tories of Rome. The Pope in his distress besought 
the assistance of the celebrated Charles Martel, who 
was at that time the most popular warrior on earth, 
he having recently fought the Saxon armies at the 
great battle of Tours, or Poicteirs, and saved France, 
and the rest of Europe from a Mohammedan inva- 
sion. Charles was then called the Mayor of the 



68 The Warrior Bribed by the Pope. 

palace of the French King ; but really exercised a 
power even greater than that of the King himself. 
Pope Gregory was most urgent in beseeching the 
warrior to hasten to his help. " Shut not your ears 
my most christian son/ 7 writes Gregory, " shut not 
your ears to our prayers, lest the prince of the 
apostles should shut the gates of the Kingdom of 
Heaven against you." The Pope had sent him his 
usual present of the Keys of the tomb of Peter, and 
also some of the filings of Peter's chain, and appeal- 
ing to these he says : — " I conjure you by the sacred 
keys of the tomb of St. Peter, which I send you, 
prefer not the friendship of the Lombard Kings to 
that regard you owe to the prince of the apostles." 

As the sacred keys and the holy filings were 
insufficient to influence the great warrior to engage 
in so serious an enterprise, the Pope appealed to his 
ambition. He proposed to Charles that he and the 
Romans would renounce all alliance to the emperor, 
as an avowed heretic, and acknowledging him, 
Charles, for their protector, and confer upon him the 
consular dignity of Rome, upon condition that he 
should protect the Pope, the Church and the 
Roman people against the Lombards ; and if neces- 
sary, against the Emperor himself. These proposals 
being agreeable to Martel, he immediately took the 
Pope under his protection, no doubt intending at an 
early period to consummate the agreement. 

Gregory, however, did not live to carry into effect 
his treasonable purpose, the great warrior to profit 
by it, or the emperor to hear of it. They all three died 



An Ambitious Pope. 69 

in that year 741, within a few weeks of each other. 
Upon the death of these great personages the 
Emperor was succeeded by Constantine, the Pope by 
Zachery, and the mayor of the palace by his son 
Pepin, as the nominal mayor, but the real ruler of 
France. A few years after this, Stephen being Pope, 
and Pepin King of France, through the wicked 
connivance of the Pope, the Pope was again in great 
need of assistance, on account of the threat of 
Aistulphus, King of the Lombards, to invade Rome. 
The Pope sought the interference of Pepin. Indeed, 
Stephen went personally to France to make his 
appeal to the King. The Pope, on his arrival in 
France, was received with the highest honors, and 
entertained as the holy successor of the apostles. 
After a brief stay he recrossed the Alps, at the head 
of an army which was led by the King in person. 
The worldly minded Pope, ambitious to become an 
earthly King, was cunning enough to secure from 
Pepin a promise that he would restore the places that 
might be captured from Aistulphus, (not to the Em- 
peror,) but to him, to be freely possessed by St. Peter, 
and his successors. After the conflict of arms, in which 
Pepin was victorious, the King of the Lombards 
was compelled to sign a treaty to deliver up to the 
Pope the exarchate of Ravenna, " with all the cities? 
castles, and territories thereto belonging, to be forever 
held, and possessed, by the most Holy Stephen, and his 
successors in the Apostolic See of St. Peter." 

In reference to this most significant affair, Gibbon 
in his " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire/' 



70 Origin of the Temporal Power. 

says : — " The ample measure of the Exarchate might 
comprise all the provinces of Italy, which had obeyed 
the Emperor and his vicegerent ; but its strict and 
proper limits were included in the territories of 
Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara, its inseperable 
dependency was the Pantapolis, which stretched 
along the Adriatic from Rimini to Ancona, and 
advanced into the midland country, as far as the 
ridges of the Appenine. This splendid donation 
was granted in supreme and absolute dominion, 
and the world beheld for the first time a christian bishop 
invested with the prerogatives of a temporal prince ; the 
choice of magistrates, the exercise of justice, the 
imposition of taxes, and the wealth of the palace of 
Ravenna." 

One Kingdom has been rooted up by the Little 
Horn. It would be most interesting to trace the 
steps by which the Kingdom of Lombardy, and the 
Dukedom of Rome were included in the temporal 
dominions of the papacy ; but for the sake of 
brevity, and as this book is not designed to be a full 
history of popery, we will quote the statements of 
that learned and useful student of the prophecies, 
Bishop Newton. He says : " The Kingdom of the 
Lombards was often troublesome to the Popes ; and 
soon again King Desiderius invaded the territories 
of Pope Adrian I., so that the Pope was obliged to 
have recourse again to the King of France and 
earnestly invited Charles the Great — Charlemagne — 
the son and successor of Pepin, to come into Italy 
to his assistance. He came accordingly with a 



Particeps Criminis. 71 

great army, being ambitious also himself of enlarg- 
ing his domains in Italy, and conquered the Lom- 
bards, and put an end to their Kingdom, and gave 
great part of their domains to the Pope. He not 
only confirmed the former donations of his father 
Pepin, but also made an addition of other countries 
to them, as Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the Sabine 
country, the whole tract between Lucca and Parma, 
and that part of Tuscany, that belonged to the 
Lombards ; and the tables of these donations he 
signed himself and caused them to be signed by the 
bishops, abbots, and other great men then present, 
and laid them so signed on the altar of St. Peter. 
And this was the end of the Kingdom of the Lom- 
bards, in the 206th year after their possessing Italy, 
and in the year of Christ 774. Thus we see that 
two Kingdoms have been " rooted up by the Little 
Horn." 

The State of Rome, " though subject to the popes 
in things spiritual, was yet in things temporal 
governed by the Senate and people, who after their 
defection from the eastern emperors, still retained 
many of their old privileges, and elected both the 
western emperor and the popes. After Charles the 
Great had overthrown the Kingdom of the Lombards 
he came again to Rome, and was there by the pope, 
bishops, abbots, and people of Rome, chosen Roman 
patrician, with it the degree of honor and power 
next to the emperor. He then settled the affairs 
of Italy, and permitted 'the pope to hold, under him, 
the duchy of Rome, with other territories ; but after 



72 An Infallible Pope in Prison. 

a few years, the Romans, desirious of recovering 
their liberty, conspired against Pope Leo III., 
accused him of many great crimes, and imprisoned 
him. His accusers were heard on a day appointed 
before Charles, and a council of French and Italian 
bishops ; but the pope, without pleading his own 
cause, or making any defence, was acquitted, his 
accusers were slain or banished, and he himself 
was declared to be superior to all human judicature. 
And thus was laid the foundation of the absolute 
authority of the pope over the Romans, which was 
completed by degrees, and Charles in return was 
chosen emperor of the west. 

" However, after the death of Charles the Great, the 
Romans again conspired against the pope ; but 
Lewis the Pious, the son and successor of Charles, 
acquitted him again. In the meanwhile Leo was 
dangerously ill, which as soon as the Romans, his 
enemies, perceived, they rose again, burned, and 
plundered his villas, and thence marched to Rome 
to recover what things they complained were taken 
from them by force; but they were repressed by 
some of the emperor's troops. The same emperor, 
Lewis the Pious, at the request of pope Paschal, 
confirmed the donations which his father and 
grand-father had made to the See of Rome. 
Sigonius has recited the confirmation ; and therein 
are mentioned Rome and its duchy, containing 
part of Tuscany and Campania, Ravenna, and the 
Exarchate and Pentapolis, and the other part of 
Tuscany, and the countries taken from the Lom- 
bards; and all these are granted to the pope and 



Sinister Eyes of the Papacy. 73 

his successors to the end of the world, that they 
should hold them in their own right, principality, 
and dominion. There, as we conceive, were the three 
horns, three of the first horns, which fell before 
the little horn, and the pope hath in a manner 
pointed himself out for the person by wearing the 
triple crown" 

The prediction that the Little Horn should 
" pluck up three of the first horns by the roots/' 
or as the angel explained, should " subdue three 
Kings," or Kingdoms, we see was literally fulfilled 
more than twelve hundred years afterwards, thus 
affording the most conclusive proof of the divine 
inspiration of the prophet Daniel. 

There are several things predicted of the little 
horn that find a striking fulfilment in the conduct 
of the papacy. It is said : " In this horn were eyes 
like the eyes of a man" As political bodies, or gov- 
ernments, are composed of living persons, it would 
be mere trifling to say that they had eyes. As 
the little horn is a sinister, and threatening power, 
so it is intended to say there will be something 
sinister and threatening in the eyes of the power 
represented by the little horn. 

"The eyes of a man" indicate intelligence, and 
the whole machinery, and plan, and purpose, of the 
Romish Church, are the result of the deepest cun- 
ning, and sagacity and foresight. The vast intelli- 
gence, perverted to evil uses, is one of the most 
striking features of this great " mystery of iniquity." 
Vast multitudes of priests, nuns, bishops, and other 



74 Speaking Against God. 

emisaries of the pope, are scattered over the world, 
and all these are the eyes of the pope, on the look- 
out for opportunities to increase his power, and 
augment his wealth. Through the confessional the 
priests become acquainted with what is going on 
in Protestant families, and Protestant business 
firms, and with whatever is of interest to the Heir- 
archy, and can be turned to account in advancing 
its interests. Rome is Argus-eyed. 

Again it is said of the little horn, " He shall speak 
great words against the Most High" This is blas- 
phemy ; and in the book of Revelation, ch. 13 : 5, 
this same evil power is referred to. Daniel said the 
little horn had " a mouth speaking great things/' 
and the angelic interpreter declares that these 
" great things," spoken by the little horn, are 
" great words against the great High." In Revela- 
tion it is said, — clearly referring to the same 
power, — " And there was given unto him a mouth 
speaking great things, and blasphemies. And he 
opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to 
blaspheme his name," etc. This is a well known 
characteristic of the papacy. This he does, says 
Bishop Newton, by setting up himself above all 
laws, divine and human, arrogating to himself god- 
like attributes and titles of holiness and infallibility, 
exacting obedience to his ordinances and decrees 
in preference to, and in open violation of reason 
and scripture, insulting men, and blaspheming God." 
In Gratian's decretals the pope hath the title of 
God given to him. " The Roman pontiff," says 



Tramples on Times and Laws. 75 

Pope Stephen, " is to judge all men, and is to be 
judged by no man." " The pope is styled, God," 
says pope Nicholas, " and it is manifest that God 
cannot be judged by man." A " bull " of Pope 
Boniface declares that all the faithful of Christ are 
by necessity of salvation, subject to the Roman 
Pontiff,;* who has both swords, and judges all men ; 
but is judged by none." Here are evident remarks 
of Anti-christ. 

Again the Heavenly interperter says, he " Shall 
think to change times and laivs." No one can deny 
that this is true of the Romish Church. The obser- 
vance of saints' days ; the marriage vow, in the 
case of the clergy cancelled, and marriage itself 
forbidden, subjects released from their allegiance to 
their sovereigns, as for example Henry VIII., and 
Queen Elizabeth, of England, the cup in the Lord's 
Supper forbidden to the laity, and the sanctioning of 
the worship of images. The pope appoints fetes, 
and feasts, canonizes saints, grants pardons and 
indulgences for sins, institutes new r modes of wor- 
ship, imposes new r articles of faith, enjoins new 7 rules 
of practice, and reverses at pleasure the laws both of 
God and man. The traditions of the Fathers, and 
the decrees of Councils are made to supercede the 
Word of God. " The holy and inspired fathers and 
teachers," says Gregory III., " and the six Councils of 
Christ, these are our scriptures and our light to 
salvation." 

Again it w^as predicted that the little horn " shall 
make war with the saints" and " shall seek to wear 
out the saints of the Host High" 



76 Making War with the Saints. 

It is well known that for centuries the " Holy " 
and " Infallible " Popes of Rome, those sweet and 
humble servants of the meek and lowly Jesus, de- 
lighted in persecuting and torturing and murdering 
the noblest and holiest people on earth, because, 
glorying in the liberty of Christ's pure Gospel they 
refused to have their consciences and their souls 
bound by the fetters of Popish superstitions and 
falsehoods. The Little Horn was to be a perse- 
cuting power, and this has always been the charac- 
teristic of the Church of Rome, and this brands her 
unmistakably as the Antichrist. If anything could 
have " worn out the saints of the Most High," and 
banished evangelical religion from the face of the 
earth, it would have been the persecutions of the 
Papal power. In the year 1208, a crusade was pro- 
claimed by Pope Innocent — very innocent I — against 
the Waldenses and Albigenses, in which a million 
people perished. " From the beginning of the Order of 
the Jesuits in 1540 to 1580, nine hundred thousand 
were destroyed. One hundred and fifty thousand were 
destroyed by the Inquisition in thirty years. In 
the Low Countries fifty thousand persons were 
hanged, burned, beheaded, drowned, and buried 
alive for the crime of heresj r , within the space of 
thirty-eight years from the edict of Charles V. to the 
peace of Cambreres in 1557. Eighteen thousand 
died by the hand of the executioner in five years 
and a half during the administration of the Duke 
of Alva." Indeed, the slightest acquaintance with 
the history of the Papacy will convince any one 



The Pope's Hatred of True Saints. 77 

that what is here said of " making war with the 
saints/' and " wearing out the saints of the Most 
High," is strictly applicable to that power, and will 
accurately describe its history. There have been, 
indeed, other persecuting powers, but none to which 
this language would be so applicable, and none 
which it would so naturally suggest. In proof of 
this, it is only necessary to refer to the history of the 
Papacy, and to what it has done to extirpate those 
who have professed a different faith. Let any one re- 
call the persecutions of the Waldenses, the acts of the 
Duke of Alva, in the Low Countries, the persecution 
in England in the days of the " bloody Queen Mary," 
the Inquisition, the attempts, all too successful, to 
extinguish all the efforts at reformation in Italy and 
Spain, in the time of Luther and Calvin, the attempts 
to put down the Reformation in Germany and Swit- 
zerland ; all which were either directly originated, 
or sanctioned by the Papacy, and all for the same 
end ; and he will see no reason to doubt that the 
language here is strictly applicable to that power, 
and that there has been no government on earth 
which would be so naturally suggested by it as the 
Church of Rome. 

It is worthy of the most serious consideration, 
and especially by those who suppose that the Church 
of Rome is in some sense a part of the true Chris- 
tian Church, that it is " the saints " against whom the 
persecuting rage of that Church has always been 
directed. And who are the " saints f" It is, of 
course, well understood that the scriptures speak of 



78 John Huss of Bohemia. 

the saints as those who love and serve God, and who 
compose the true Church of Jesus Christ. Nothing 
can be more certain then .than that the Romish 
Church, that persecutes and destroys God's true 
people, "the saints of the Most High/' cannot itself 
be saintly or Christian ; but is the enemy of God 
and of His true followers. 

It will be instructive and helpful in this discus- 
sion to present a few names, and these known to all 
the world for their Christian virtues and great use- 
fulness in advancing the cause of truth and best 
interests of mankind, as the sort of people that have 
always been hated and persecuted, and murdered 
by the Church of Rome. 

John Huss, of Bohemia, was born in 1373. While 
a young man he was greatly influenced by reading 
the writings of John WicklifFe, who had translated 
the Bible into the English language, and in his 
writings had solemnly denounced the profligacy and 
wickedness of the Romish priests. After Huss had 
been ordained a priest of Rome he dared to study 
the Holy Scriptures, and was so evangelical in his 
preaching, and so faithful in rebuking the worldli- 
ness and time-serving and wickedness of the priests 
and bishops that he incurred their enmity, and they 
stirred up a bitter persecution against him. This 
noble and persecuted man felt it would be best for 
him to retire for a while to his native village, and 
while there wrote a letter to his flock, from which 
we quote the following words, which show the noble 
and true character of the man : " Learn beloved," 



Huss Welcomes Persecution. 79 

says he, " that if I have withdrawn from the midst 
of you, it is to follow the precept and example of 
Jesus Christ, in order not to give room to the ill- 
minded to draw on themselves eternal condemna- 
tion, and in order not to be to the pious a cause 
of affliction and persecution. I have retired also 
through an apprehension that impious priests might 
continue for a longer time to prohibit the preaching 
of the word of God among you; but I have not 
quitted you to deny the Divine truth, for which, 
with God's assistance, I am willing to die." In 
another letter, in alluding to the example of Christ, 
he says : " He came to the aid of us miserable sin- 
ners, supporting hunger, thirst, cold, heat, watching 
and fatigue. When giving us his Divine instruc- 
tions he suffered weighty sorrows, and grave insults 
from the priests and scribes, to such a point that 
they called him a blasphemer, and declared that he 
had a devil ; asserting that he whom they had ex- 
communicated as a heretic, and whom they had 
driven from their city and crucified as an accursed 
one, could not be God. If, then, Christ had to sup- 
port such things — he who cured all kinds of diseases 
by his mere word, without any recompense on 
earth — who drove out devils, raised the dead, and 
taught God's holy word — who did no harm to any- 
one, who committed no sin, and who suffered every 
indignity from the priests, simply because he laid 
open their wickedness, why should we be astonished 
at the present day that the ministers of antichrist, who 
are far more covetous, more debauched, more cruel, 



80 A Lying Emperor. 

and more cunning than the Pharisees, should perse- 
cute the servants of God, overwhelm them with 
indignity, curse, excommunicate, imprison, and kill 

them?" 

It would be interesting to narrate the particulars 
of the great contest of John Huss with the errors of 
the Romish Church, and even with the Pope him- 
self, whom he denounced as Antichrist, but, how- 
ever reluctantly, we must pass over these, and simply 
recite as briefly as possible the steps that led this 
noble man of God to the stake, to burn for Jesus, 
and the truth. When the Council of Constance 
assembled, in 1414, John Huss was summoned 
before it. Huss received what was called a safe- 
conduct from the Emperor Sigismund. This docu- 
ment pledged the honor of the Emperor for his safe 
return. But as " no faith is to be kept with heretics" 
this document was violated by the advice of the 
bishops and cardinals, at the Council, covering 
with disgrace all concerned in this infamous trans- 
action. In one of his last letters to his friends, 
Huss writes : — " I am departing, my brethren, with 
a safe-conduct from the King to meet my numerous, 

and mortal enemies I confide altogether in 

my all powerful God. I trust that He will listen to 
your ardent prayers ; that He will infuse his prudence 
and his wisdom into my mouth, so that I may resist 
them ; and that he will accord me his Holy Spirit 
to fortify me in his truth, so that I may face, with 
courage, temptations, prison, and, if necessary, a cruel 
death." 



The Treacherous Emperor Rebuked. 81 

In shameful violation of the safe-conduct of the 
Emperor, on the arrival of Huss he was placed 
under arrest by order of the Pope and cardinals, 
and committed to a loathsome prison. When 
tidings of this reached Prague, the city became 
greatly excited. A number of protests were at once 
signed. Several Barons and powerful noblemen 
wrote pressing letters to the Emperor reminding 
him of the safe-conduct which Huss had received 
from Sigismund himself. They said to the Emperor — 
" John Huss departed with full confidence in the 
guarantee given him in your Majesty's letter. 
Nevertheless, we understand he has been seized on, 
and cast into prison, without having been either 
convicted or heard. Everyone here, princes or 
barons, rich or poor, has been astonished to hear of 
this event. Each man here asks his neighbor how 
the Holy Father could so shamefully have violated 
the sanctity of the law, the plain rules of justice, 
and finally, your majesty's safe-conduct; how in 
fact, he could have thrown into prison, without 
cause, a just and innocent man." 

In violation of every principle of right, and truth, 
and honor, and decency, this godly man, and brave 
and noble reformer was sentenced to be burned at 
the stake. When sentence had been passed upon 
him, Huss fell on his knees, aud said, " Lord Jesus, 
pardon my enemies ! Thou knowest they have 
falsely accused me, and that they have had recourse 
to false testimony and vile calumnies against me ; 
pardon them from thine infinite mercy ! " Having 



82 Huss Asserts His Innocence. 

stripped him, with every mark of insult, of his 
priestly robes, they placed on his head a sort of 
crown, or mitre, on which were painted frightful 
figures of demons, with the inscription " The Arch- 
Heretic" and when he was thus arrayed the prelates 
devoted his soul to the devil. John Huss, however, 
recommended his soul to God, and said aloud, " I 
wear with joy this crown of opprobrium, for the love 
of Him who bore a crown of thorns." 

Having obtained permission to say a few words 
to his keepers, he thanked them for all the kindness 
they had shown him. " My brethren," said he, 
" learn that I firmly believe in my Saviour. It is 
in his name that I suffer, and this very day I shall 
go and reign with him." The executioners then 
bound his body with thongs, with which he was 
firmly tied to the stake driven deep in the ground. 
His head was held close to the stake by a chain 
smeared with soot. Before the fire was kindled, the 
Elector Palatine, accompanied by Count d' Oppen- 
heim, marshall of the empire, came up to him and 
again urged him to recant. But he, lifting his eyes 
to heaven, said with a loud voice, — " I call God 
to witness that I have never either taught or written 
what these false witnesses have laid to my charge ; 
my sermons, my books, my writings have all been 
done with the sole view of rescuing souls from the 
tyranny of sin, and therefore, most joyfully will I 
confirm with my blood the truth which I have 
taught, written and preached ; and which is con- 
firmed by the divine laws and the holy fathers/' 



Huss Burning at the Stake. 83 

The Elector and the Marshall then withdrew, and a 
fire was set to the pile. " Jesus, Son of the living 
God, have mercy on me/' cried this noble martyr. 
He prayed, and sung a hymn in the midst of the 
fire, but soon after, the wind having risen, his voice 
was drowned by the roaring of the flames. His head 
and lips were seen moving some time longer as if 
still in prayer, and then his blood-washed spirit went 
up to be welcomed by the redeemed in heaven. " His 
habits were burned with him," says the historian, 
" and the executioners tore in pieces the remains of 
his body, and threw them back into the funeral 
pile, until the fire had absolutely consumed every 
thing ; the ashes were then collected together and 
thrown into the Rhine, and as it was said of Wick- 
liffe, so may it be said of the holy martyr of Bohe- 
mia, that the dispersion of his ashes in the river and 
in the ocean, is an emblem of the subsequent dis- 
semination of these truths, for the sake of which he 
braved a martyr's sufferings, and wore a martyr's 
crown." 

As Jerome of Prague was a devoted personal 
friend of Huss, and imbued with the same senti- 
ments of devotion to evangelical truth in opposi- 
tion to the shameful superstitions of popery, and as 
he shared the same fate of his friend whom we have 
just seen expiring in the fires of martyrdom, we will 
fill the remaining paragraphs of this chapter with a 
brief statement of his case. Jerome having heard 
of the imprisonment of his friend determined to 
hasten to Constance to defend him, for Jerome 



84 Rome Still Thirsts for Blood. 

was a man of very superior intellectual endowment, 
and acknowledged by Huss himself to be his supe- 
rior. He arrived in the city without a safe conduct. 
He soon heard enough to fill him with alarm, 
and he hastily returned to Bohemia. Stopping on 
his way he in vain requested a safe conduct from 
the Emperor to go, and return to the Council of 
Constance ; but the Council itself sent him one, such 
as it was ; for it contained the following assurance 
of protection : " As we have nothing more at heart 
than to catch the foxes which ravage in the 
vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, we summon you by 
these presents to appear before us as a suspected 
person, and violently accused of having rashly 
advanced several errors ; and we order you to 
appear here within a fortnight from this date to 
answer, as you have offered to do, in the first session 
that shall be held after your arrival. It is for this 
purpose, that, in order to prevent any violence 
being offered to you, we by these presents give you 
a full safe-conduct, as much as in us lies, excepting 
always the claims of the law, and that the orthodox 
faith does not in any respect prevent it ; certifying 
to you beside, that whether you appear within the 
specified time or not, the Council by itself will 
proceed against you." Jerome proceeded with a sad 
heart on his way homeward, when he was arrested 
in the Black Forest, and brought back to Con- 
stance, which he entered on a cart, loaded with 
chains, and surrounded by a guard of soldiers. 
He was taken in that miserable condition to 



Jerome of Prague in Chains. 85 

the house of the Elector, where he was kept until he 
appeared in public before a general meeting of the 
members of the Council. At his first appearance he 
was bitterly assailed by several of the members, 
and his attempts to reply to their accusations were 
met with loud shouts of: " To the flames with him ! 
To the flames with him ! " He was conducted to a 
loathsome dungeon, chained in the most painful 
manner, and postures, and fed on bread and water. 

For six months he was permitted to wear his 
galling chains, while he was treated with every 
indignity and severity in his dreadful dungeon, 
and his legs were already afflicted with incurable 
sores. He was threatened with being burned if he 
refused to recant his errors, and subscribe to the 
justice of John Huss' death. Poor Jerome quailed 
before the prospect of the stake, and in a moment of 
weakness he submitted himself to the Council, and 
approved of all its acts. Let us not condemn his 
weakness, and want of faith in God, unless we are 
quite sure that under similar circumstances we 
would have done better. 

Jerome w r as taken back to prison but treated less 
severely. His recantation, qualified as it was by 
his declared attachment to John Huss, did not 
satisfy the human blood-hounds who thirsted for 
his blood. Jerome saw plainly that in order to 
save his life he would be obliged to add perjury 
to perjury. He looked to God for more strength, 
and his prayer was answered, and his love of the 
truth prevailed over love of life, and he resolved 



86 Jerome and His Cruel Judges. 

to play the man and for Christ's sake follow his 
beloved friend Huss to the flames. On the 23d of 
May, 1516, upon again being confronted with his 
cruel judges, he renounced his former recantation, 
advocated his own opinions, and those of John 
Huss, with a degree of argument, and learning that 
greatly astonished even his enemies. In reference 
to his martyred friend, Huss, he exclaimed aloud 
before all the Council : " I knew John Huss from 
his childhood, and there never was anything wrong 
in him. He was a most excellent man, just and 
holy ; he was condemned notwithstanding his inno- 
cence. He has ascended to Heaven, like Elijah, in 
the midst of flames, and from thence he will 
summon his enemies to the formidable tribunal 
of Christ. I also am ready to die, and I will 
not recoil before the torments that are prepared for 
me by my enemies, and false witnesses, who will 
one day have to render an account of their im- 
postures before the great God whom nothing can 
deceive. Of all the sins that I have committed 
since my youth, none weigh so heavily on my mind 
and cause me poignant remorse as that which I 
committed in this fatal place when I approved 
of the iniquitous sentence rendered against Wick- 
liffe, and against the holy martyr, John Huss, 
my master and my friend. Yes ! I confess it from 
my heart, and declare with horror, that I disgrace- 
fully quailed, when, through a dread of death, I 
condemned their doctrines. I therefore supplicate 
and conjure Almighty God to deign to pardon 



Rome's Cruelty to a Good Man. 87 

me my sins, and this one in particular, the most 
heinous of all, according to the promise he has 
made us, ' I will not have the death of a sinner, but 
rather that he may turn from his wickedness and 
live ! ' " Then raising his hand, and pointing to 
his judges, he exclaimed in tones that must have 
struck into their very souls, "You condemned John 
Wickliffe and John Huss, not for having shaken 
the doctrine of the Church, but simply because they 
branded with reprobation the scandals proceeding 
from the clergy, their pomp, their pride, and all the 
vices of the prelates and priests. The things they 
affirmed, and which are irrefutable, I also think, 
and declare like them." 

His enemies, stung to the quick by his words, 
which they well knew to be true, cried out : " What 
need of further proof? " — " Away with the most 
obstinate of heretics I " Jerome, with much dignity, 
exclaimed — " Do you suppose I am afraid to die ? 
You have held me in a horrible dungeon, more 
horrible than death itself. You have treated me 
more cruelly than a Turk, Jew, or Pagan, and my 
flesh has literally rotted off my bones alive, and yet 
I made no complaint ; for lamentation ill becomes a 
man of heart and spirit ; but I cannot but express 
my astonishment at such great barbarity towards a 
Christian." " His voice," remarks the Romanist 
Poggio, the Florentine historian, " his voice was 
touching, clear, and sonorous ; his gestures full of 
dignity and persuasiveness, whether he expressed 
indignation, or moved his hearers to pity, which, 



88 Jerome Appeals to God-s Word. 

however, he appeared neither to ask for, nor to 
desire. He stood there in the midst of all, the 
features pale, but the heart intrepid, despising death, 
and going to meet it. Interrupted frequently, 
attacked and tormented by many, he replied fully 
to all, and took vengeance on them ; forcing some 
to blush, and others to be silent; and towering 
above all their clamors. Sometimes too, he earn- 
estly besought, and at others forcibly claimed to be 
permitted to speak freely, calling on the assembly 
to listen to him whose voice would soon be hushed 
forever." It must be remembered that this remark- 
able testimony to the Christian fidelity, and pious 
dignity of Jerome, was written by one of his 
enemies. 

Jerome was again remanded to prison, and was 
visited by several cardinals and bishops, who had 
been astonished at his wonderful ability and elo- 
quence. The cardinal of Florence exhorted him to 
recant aud save his life. "The only favor that I 
demand," said Jerome, and which I have always 
demanded, is to be convinced by the Holy Scrip- 
tures. This body which has suffered such fearful 
torments in my chains, will also know how to 
support death by fire for Jesus Christ." " And in 
what manner," said the cardinal, " do you desire to 
be instructed ? " "By the holy writings, which are our 
illuminating torch," was his emphatic reply. 

On the 30th day of May, Jerome was brought 
before the Council to receive his sentence. The 
Bishop of Lodi ascended the pulpit, and delivered, 



Condemned to Death. 89 

as he had previously done in the case of John Huss, 
a most savage harangue. In addressing Jerome he 
said : " But with you, who are more guilty than 
Arius, Sabellius, and Nestorius ; with you, who have 
infected all Europe with the poison of heresy, grand 
indulgence has been practiced. You have only 
been detained in prison from necessity; honorable 
witnesses alone have been listened to against you, 
and the torture has not been employed, which was a 
great fault. Would to God that you had been 
tortured ! You would have denied your errors in 
your torments, and suffering would have opened 
your eyes, which your crimes had closed." 

At the close of this shocking discourse, Jerome 
mounted a bench, and in a loud voice, expressed 
his deep sorrow for his former cowardice, and great 
sin in approving the horrible and inhuman sen- 
tence passed on his friend Huss. " I only gave my 
assent to it," said he, " from a dread of being 
burned. I now revoke that culpable avowal ; and I 
declare it anew that I lied like a wretch in abjuring 
the doctrines of Wickliffe, and of Huss, and in 
approving the death of such a holy and just man." 

After reciting the things of which Jerome was 
accused, the sentence concludes with these words — 
" For these causes the sacred synod has resolved 
and commanded, that the said Jerome be cast out 
as a rotten, withered branch, and declares him a 
heretic, relapsed, excommunicated, and accursed, 
and as such condemns him." 

Jerome was then handed over to the secular 



90 The Martyr in the Flames. 

powers to be burnt to death. A high crown of 
paper was brought in, on which was painted devils, 
in flames. On seeing this Jerome threw his hat on 
the ground, in the midst of the prelates, and taking 
the mock crown in his hands, he placed it on his 
head, repeating the words which John Huss had 
pronounced: "Jesus Christ, who died for me, a 
sinner, wore a crown of thorns. I will willingly 
wear a crown of thorns. I will willingty wear this 
for him." The soldiers then seized him, and led 
him away to death. Upon arriving at the same 
stake as that to which Huss had been bound, the 
martyr fell on his knees to pray, but the execu- 
tioners raised him up while still praying, and hav- 
ing bound him to the stake with cords and chains, 
they heaped up around him a quantity of straw and 
wood. Jerome sang a hymn, and then repeated 
the creed, and addressing the people he exclaimed : 
" This creed is my real confession of faith ; I die 
therefore, only for not having consented to acknow- 
ledge that John Huss was justly condemned. I 
declare that I have always beheld in him a true 
preacher of the gospel." When the wood was raised 
to a level with his head, his vestments were thrown 
on the pile, and as the executioner was setting fire 
to the mass behind, in order not to be seen, Jerome 
said to him, " Come forward, boldly, and apply the 
fire before my face. Had I been afraid, I would 
not be here." When the fire was blazing around 
him he said with a loud voice : " Lord, into thy 
hands do I commit my spirit ! " Feeling the burn- 
ing heat of the flames, he was heard to cry out, 



Rome Hates True Saints. 91 

in the Bohemian language : " Lord, Almighty 
Father, have pity on me and pardon all my sins ; 
for thou knowest that I have always loved thy 
truth." At last, when he had been burned to death, 
all that had belonged to him, his bed, cap, shoes, 
etc., were brought from the prison, and thrown into 
the flames and reduced to ashes with himself. 
These ashes were then collected and throwm into 
the Rhine, as had been done in the case of John 
Huss. It was hoped by this means to remove from 
the followers of these two holy martyrs every article 
that could by any possibility become in their hands 
an object of veneration ; but the very ground where 
the stake was planted was hollowed out, and the 
earth on which they had suffered was carried to 
Bohemia, and guarded with religious care, as the 
most precious and valued memorials of those holy 
martyrs of Jesus. 

" I beheld and the same horn made ivar with the 
saints" " And he shall speak great words against 
the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the 
Most High" Already we are forced to conclude that 
the blood-thirsty and deeply blood-stained system 
of the Papacy cannot be, and is not, in any sense 
Christian; but on the contrary is the bitterest 
enemy with which Christianity has had to contend. 
There is scarcely a fact in the history of this apos- 
tate Church which reflects upon her such indelible 
disgrace and infamy, and which modern Romanists 
have done so much to conceal, or deny, as these 
murders of John Huss and his friend, Jerome of 



92 Rome Justifies Perjury. 

Prague. They cannot shift the blame to a mere 
ecclesiastical court, or to some over-zealous King, or 
judge ; for these foul murders were the formal and 
deliberate acts of a great Council of their Church, 
where were assembled all the authority, learning, 
and dignity of their " holy " and " infallible " com- 
munion. 

As widespread indignation was expressed towards 
Sigismund the Emperor, for his perfidy in violating 
his safe-conduct given to John Huss, as also toward 
the prelates who' had urged him to commit this 
unkingly act, the Council, before final adjournment, 
sought to provide a salve for the monarch's shame 
and humiliation by passing the following decree : — 
" Whereas, there are certain persons, either ill- 
disposed or overwise beyond what they ought to be, 
who in secret and in public, traduce not only the 
Emperor, but the sacred Council, saying or insinu- 
ating that the safe-conduct granted to John Huss, 
an arch-heretic, of damnable memory, was basely 
violated, contrary to all the rules of honor and 
justice; though the said John Huss, by obstinately 
attacking the Catholic faith in the manner he did, 
rendered himself unworthy of any manner of safe- 
conduct or privilege ; and though according to the 
natural, divine, and human laws, no promise or 
faith ought to have been kept with him, to the prejudice 
of the Catholic faith. The sacred synod declares, 
by these presents, that the said Emperor did, with 
regard to John Huss, what he might, and ought to 
have done, notwithstanding his safe-conduct, and 



No Faith to be Kept with Heretics. 93 

forbids all the faithful in general, and every one 
of them in particular, of what dignity, degree, 
pre-eminence, condition, state, or sex, they may be, 
to speak evil in any manner, either of the Council, 
or of the King, as to what passed with regard to 
John Huss, on pain of being punished, without 
remission, as favorers of heresy, and persons guilty 
of high treason." 

Here then we have from the highest Romish 
authority, the infamous doctrine, that — "No prom- 
ise, OR FAITH OUGHT TO BE KEPT, TO THE PREJUDICE 

of the Catholic faith." 

Such are thy tender mercies, tyrant Rome ! 

The rack, the faggot, or the hated creed : 
Fearless amidst thy folds fierce wolves may roam ; 

Whilst stainless sheep upon thine altars bleed. 



CHAPTER IV. 

" The Man of Sin, and Son of Perdition." 

More than five hundred years have passed away 
since Daniel's dream of the Little Horn, and we 
find the inspired and eloquent Paul warning the 
Christian Church of the coming of this great foe 
that was some day to greatly mar her peace, and 
cruelly scatter and destroy the flock. It will be 
profitable to read the Apostle's words, (2 Thess., 2 : 
2-12). As many christians in his time felt concerned 
in regard to a prevailing belief that the coming of 
Christ was at hand, he assures them that there was 
no just ground for such a belief. " For that day 
shall not come except there come a falling away 
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of per- 
dition, who opposeth, and exalteth himself above all 
that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he, 
as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing him- 
self that he is God. Remember ye not that when 
I was yet with you I told you these things ? And 
now ye know what withholdeth that he might be 
revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity 
doth already work : only he who now letteth will 
let until he be taken out of the way. And then 
shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord 
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and 
destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even 
him whose coming is after the working of Satan, 
with all power, and signs, and lying wonders. And 

94 



A Succession of Wicked Men. 95 

with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness in 
them that perish ; because they received not the 
love of the truth that they might be saved. And 
for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, 
that they should believe a lie ; that they all might 
be damned who believed not the truth ; but had 
pleasure in unrighteousness." 

Paul says the " man of sin," or the " wicked " one, 
would not be " revealed," or manifest himself, until 
something was " taken out of the way." That which 
hindered or prevented the revelation of " the man 
of sin," was, undoubtedly, the pagan Roman Empire. 
But who is this man of sin and son of perdition ? 
The reference here seems to be, as learned students 
of the Bible understand, to the seventh chapter of 
Daniel, and to that wicked and blasphemous Little 
Horn that " spoke great words against the Most 
High." It is not simply one man that is referred 
to ; but to a succession of very wicked men ; or to 
a system of wickedness, whose leaders would be so 
vile as to deserve to be called, or spoken of, as pre- 
eminently " wicked " and " sons of perdition ." 

In spite of all the different and often ridiculous, 
views that have been entertained in regard to this 
" man of sin," it is very certain that no system of 
iniquity has ever made its appearance on earth to 
whose leaders these words are so applicable as to the 
Roman Catholic Church ; nor has there ever arisen 
a succession of men to whom these awful epithets 
could be so appropriately applied as the Popes of 
Rome. To be convinced of this we have only to 



96 Pope Gregory J., or Saint Gregory. 

look at the general character of the Papacy, and to 
its influence in upholding and perpetuating various 
forms of iniquity in the world. No other system 
has been so extensively, and for so long a period, 
the patron of superstition ; and there are vices of 
the grossest character that have all along been fos- 
tered and encouraged by its system of celibacy, in- 
dulgences, mon-monasteries, and absolutions. But it 
would be a better illustration of the meaning, " man 
of sin," as applicable to the Pope of Rome, to look 
at the general character of the Popes themselves. Let 
us begin with one of the very best of them, Gregory 
L, called Gregory the Great, and Saint Gregory. 
When this Saintly (?) Pope desired certain favors of 
the Emperor Mauritius, he wrote letters to him filled 
with expressions of admiration, and high esteem. 
In some of these letters to that Emperor he extols 
him to the skies as one of the most pious, most 
religious, most christian princes that ever lived. He 
speaks of the Emperor's " pious zeal, solicitude and 
vigilance for the preservation of the Christian faith as 
the glory of his reign, and as a subject of joy, not 
to the Pontiff only, but to all the world." In 
another of his letters, after the warmest expressions 
of gratitude, on account of the pious liberality and 
munificence of his imperial majesty, and after 
telling how much the priests, and the poor and 
strangers, and all the faithful were indebted to his 
paternal care, he adds that for these reasons " all 
should pray for the preservation of his life, that 
Almighty God might grant to him a long and great 



Gregory Fawns on a Murderer. 97 

reign, and that after his death, as the reward of his 
piety, a happy race of his descendents might long 
flourish as sovereigns of the Roman Empire." Yet 
he no sooner hears (says Dr. Campbell,) of the suc- 
cessful treason of Phocas, in the barbarous murder 
of the Emperor and his family — -an event the 
mention of which, even at this distance, makes a 
humane person shudder with horror — than he 
exclaims with rapture : " Glory to God in the 
highest!" He invites heaven, earth, men and 
angels to join in the general triumph. 

He expresses his delight that the royal family is 
totally exterminated ; from whom a little before, he 
told us that he poured out incessant prayers that 
they might to the latest ages flourish on the throne 
for the felicity of the Roman commonwealth ! An 
honest heathen would, at least for some time, 
have avoided any intercourse with such a blood- 
thirsty ruffian as Phocas ; but this holy (?) bishop 
hastens to congratulate him on the success of his 
crimes. His very crimes he canonizes, and transforms 
into shining virtues, and the murderer himself into 
a second messiah, who had come for the salvation 
and comfort of God's people. 

Bower, the learned historian of the popes, says : 
" Does it not appear but too plain that Gregory, 
however conscientious, just and religious in his prin- 
ciples and conduct, when he did not apprehend the 
dignity or interest of his See to be concerned, acted 
upon very different notions and principles when he 
apprehended they were concerned ? For how can 



98 A Hypocritical Pope. 

we reconcile with justice, conscience, or religion, his 
bestowing on the worst of tyrants the highest praises 
that can be bestowed on the best of princes ? His 
courting the favor of a cruel and wicked usurper, 
by painting and reviling as an absolute tyrant, the 
excellent prince whose throne he had usurped ? 
His ascribing to a particular Providence the revolt 
of a rebellious subject, and his seizing the crown ; 
though he opened a way to it by the murder of his 
lawful sovereign, and his six children, all the male 
issue of the imperial family? And finally by 
his inviting all mankind, nay, the angels of heaven, 
to rejoice with him, and return thanks to God, for 
the good success of so wicked an attempt, perhaps 
the most wicked and cruel that is recorded in his- 
tory? Gregory had often declared that he was 
willing to sacrifice his life to the honor of his See ; 
but whether he did not sacrifice on this occasion, 
what ought to have been dearer to him than his 
life, or even the honor of his See, I leave the world 
to judge ; and only observe here that in reflecting 
as he did on the memory of the unhappy Mauritius, 
was in him an instance of the utmost ingratitude, if 
what he himself formerly wrote, and frequently 
repeated, be true, viz : That his tongue could not 
express the good he had received of the Almighty, 
and his lord, the Emperor; that he felt himself 
bound in gratitude to pray incessantly for the life of 
his most pious and most christian lord ; and that 
in return for the goodness of his most religious lord 
to him, he could do no less than love the very 
ground on which he trod." 



Gibbon's View of Saint Gregory. 99 

Well does Gibbon say, (chapter xlvi.), " As a sub- 
ject, and a christian, it was the duty of Gregory to 
acquiesce in the established government; but the 
joyful applause with which he salutes the fortune of 
the assassin, has sullied with indellible disgrace 
the character of the saint. The successor of the 
apostles might have inculcated with decent firm- 
ness the guilt of blood, and the necessity of repent- 
ance, he is content to celebrate the deliverance 
of the people, and the fall of the oppressor ; to re- 
joice that the piety and benignity of Phocas have 
been raised by Providence to the imperial throne, 
and to pray that his hands may be strengthened 
against all his enemies, and to express a wish, that 
after a long triumphant reign, he may be trans- 
ferred from a temporal to an everlasting kingdom." 

And yet, this depraved and lying hypocrite, this 
" man of sin, and son of perdition/' has been can- 
onized by the Romish Church, and goes by the 
name of Saint Gregory, and deluded papists bow 
the knee and pray to him. And the Church of 
Rome venerates this Saint Gregory as one of the 
best of the Popes. What, then, must the worst be ? 
Before passing to the consideration of other popes, 
we would remind the reader that it was this Pope, 
St. Gregory the Great, who in 604, most positively 
and solemnly declared that for any man to assume 
the title of Universal Bishop would clearly prove 
himself to be Antichrist As we shall have occa- 
sion to refer to this matter again, it may be useful 
at this point to remind the reader that as this 



100 Pope John VIII. a] Monster of Cruelty. 

title, of Universal Bishop, is the claim of the popes, 
it follows that the Roman Catholic Church is 
acknowledged to be Antichrist by one of her own 
infallible popes. 

Every truly magnanimous man must shrink from 
wantonly, or unnecessarily, exposing the moral 
frailties and delinquencies of his fellow mortals, 
but the cause of truth sometimes demands that this 
be done, and as the Church of Rome puts forth the 
presumptuous claim of being " the only true church, 
out of which there is no salvation/' and as her 
popes claim divine attributes and powers, and to 
have committed to them the keys of heaven and 
hell, as the holy successors of the Apostles of Christ, 
they ought to be able to show that all the popes, 
from Peter to Leo XIII., have been very holy men. 
This must be admitted. But if it can be shown 
that the popes of Rome, instead of having been the 
most holy of men, have been the most unholy, and 
immoral men the world has ever known, then it will 
necessarily follow that all the claims of the Romish 
Church are based on deception and falsehood. 

We shall be compelled to confine ourselves to but 
a few names out of the many. Pope John VIII. 
was enriched with a great number of costly presents 
by the Emperor, Charles the Bald, in return for the 
services of the Pope in causing him to be elected 
Emperor. Upon the death of Louis II. a fierce and 
bloody contention for the empire ensued among the 
descendants of Charlemagne. Through the favor 
of the Pope, however, Charles, the grandson of 



One of the Holy Successors. 101 

Charlemagne, was successful. Advancing to Rome, 
at the invitation of the Pontiff, he was crowned by 
him with great solemnity, in the Church of St. 
Peters, on Christmas day, 875, the same day on 
which his celebrated ancestor had been crowned in 
the same place seventy-five years before, by Pope 
Leo III. It is worthy of remark that the artful 
Pope spoke of this coronation as giving a right to 
the empire, thus insinuating that he had the power 
of conferring the empire, and from this time for- 
ward the popes claimed the right of confirming the 
election of the emperor. In a sentence pronounced 
by Pope John upon a certain Bishop, Formosus, is 
the following expression : — " He has conspired with 
his accomplices against the safety of the republic, 
and our beloved son Charles, whom we have 
chosen, and consecrated emperor." This Pope was a 
monster of cruelty and blood. He approved and 
commended the horrible and inhuman conduct of 
Athanasius, Bishop of Naples, who put out the eyes 
of his own brother, Sergius, of the same city, and sent 
him in that state to the Pope, to answer to the 
charge of rebellion against the Holy See. 

He applied to the unnatural Athanasius the words 
of the Saviour, " he that loveth father or mother " 
(the Pope added, * brother ') more than me, is not 
worthy of me," and promised to send him, as a re- 
ward for his horrible cruelty, a handsome present. 
It soon appeared, however, that the bishop had more 
regard to himself than to the Pope in this unnatural 
transaction, for he soon seized on his brother's va- 
cant dukedom, and in his turn was excommunicated 



102 Pope Sergius III "A Slave of Every Vice" 

by the Pope. When afterwards the bishop sent to 
implore absolution of the Pope, the bloodthirsty 
pontiff sent him a reply that the only terms upon 
which he would grant him absolution were that he 
should deliver up to his vengeance several men, of 
whose names he sent him a list, and that he should 
cut the throats of the rest of the Pope's Saracen ene- 
mies in the presence of his legate. Such was the 
cruel spirit of this " holy " successor of the apostles — 
this link in the unbroken chain of the apostolical 
succession ! 

Sergius III. — The tenth century is spoken of in 
history as " the midnight of the human mind." 
Near the beginning of this century three notorious 
and abandoned prostitutes were in almost supreme 
control of Rome, viz.: Theodora, and her two daugh- 
ters, Marozia and Theodora. This shameful state 
of things was the result of the unbounded influence 
of the Tuscan party in Rome, and the adulterous 
relations of these wicked women with the heads of 
that party. Marozia cohabited with Adelbert, one 
of the powerful counts of Tuscany, and had a son 
by him named Alberic. Pope Sergius III., who was 
raised to the papacy in 904, also cohabited with this 
woman, and by his Holiness she had another son, 
named John, who afterward ascended the papal 
throne, through the influence of his licentious 
mother. Baronius, himself a Roman Catholic his- 
torian, confesses that Pope Sergius was the slave of 
every vice and the most wicked of men. Platina, 
also a Roman Catholic writer, declares that Pope 



Pope John X. and Theodora. 103 

Sergius rescinded the acts of Pope Formosus, and 
compelled those whom he had ordained, to be re- 
ordained, caused his dead body to be dragged from 
the sepulchre, and beheaded, as though he were 
alive, and then cast into the Tiber ! 

Pope John X. was the paramour of the harlot, 
Theodora. While a deacon of the church at Ra- 
venna, he used frequently to visit Rome, and pos- 
sessing a comely person, as we are told by Luitprand, 
a contemporary historian, being seen by Theodora, 
she fell passionately in love with him, and engaged 
him in a criminal intrigue. He was afterwards 
chosen bishop of Ravenna, and upon the death of 
Pope Lando, in 914, this shameless woman, for the 
purpose of facilitating her adulterous intercourse 
with her favorite paramour, " as she could not live 
at the distance of two hundred miles from her 
lover," had influence enough to cause him to be 
raised to the papal throne. Mosheim says the para- 
mour of Pope John was the elder harlot Theodora, 
but his translator, Dr. Maclaine, agrees with the 
Romish historian, Fleury, (who admits these dis- 
graceful facts), in the more probable theory that it 
was the younger Theodora, the sister of Marozia. 

Pope John XI. was the bastard son of his Holi- 
ness, Pope Sergius III., who, as we have seen, was 
one of the favored Jo vers of the notorious Marozia. 
The death of Pope Stephen, in 931, presented to the 
ambition of Marozia, says Mosheim, an object worthy 
of its grasp, and accordingly she raised to the papal 
dignity John XL, who was the fruit of her lawless 



104 More Holy Links. 



amours with one of the pretended successors of St. 
Peter, whose adulterous commerce gave an infallible 
guide to the Roman Church ! But we might write 
volumes on the vile characters that have occupied 
the papal chair, and, indeed, volumes have been 
written on this subject. Suffice it then to simply 
quote a paragraph or two from the pages of Rev. 
Albert Barnes, in his " Notes." " Pope Vagilius 
waded to the pontifical throne through the blood of 
his predecessor. Pope Marcellinus sacrificed to idols. 
Concerning Pope Honorius, the Council of Constan- 
tinople decreed : " We have caused Honorius, the 
late Pope of old Rome, to be accursed) for that in all 
things he followed the mind of Sergius the heretic, 
and confirmed his wicked doctrines." The Council 
of Basil thus condemned Pope Eugenius : "We 
condemn and depose Pope Eugenius, a despiser 
of the holy canons; a disturber of the peace and 
unity of the Church of God ; a notorious offender of 
the whole universal church ; a Simonist, a perjurer ; 
a man incorrigible ; a scismatic ; a man fallen from 
the faith, a wilful heretic." Pope John II. was pub- 
licly charged at Rome with incest. Pope John 
XIII. usurped the pontificate, spent his time in 
hunting, in lasciviousness and monstrous forms of 
vice ; he fled from the trial to which he was sum- 
moned, and was stabbed, being taken in an act of 
adultery. Pope Sixtus IV. licensed brothels at Rome. 
Pope Alexander VI. was, as a Roman Catholic his- 
torian says, " one of the greatest and most horrible 
monsters in nature that could scandalize the papal 



Pope Vagilius Wades Through Blood. 105 

chair. His beastly morals, his immense ambition, 
his insatiable avarice, his detestable cruelty, his 
furious lusts and monstrous incest with his daughter 
Lucretia, are at large described by Guicciardini 
Ciaconius, and other authentic papal historians. Of 
the popes, Platina, a Roman Catholic, says : " The 
chair of St. Peter was usurped, rather than possessed 
by monsters of wickedness, ambition and bribery. 
They left no wickedness unpracticed." Surely there 
has never lived a succession of men so wicked, or to 
whom the appellative, " the man of sin," could be so 
appropriately applied as to the popes of Rome. 

" The man of sin" is also " the son of perdition" 
Rev. Albert Barnes says of this epithet — " This is 
the same appellation which the Saviour bestowed on 
Judas. It may mean either that he would be the 
cause of ruin to others, or that he would himself be 
devoted to destruction. . . . The phraze, whichever 
interpretation be adopted, is used to denote one of 
eminent wickedness." It is certain that in both 
senses it is eminently true of the papacy ; for that 
apostate church has been the destroyer of millions, 
and is herself to be destroyed. We shall see in a 
future chapter that " the beast" spoken of in Revela- 
ations xvii : 8 — 11, is this same Little Horn, and it is 
there said that he " shall go into perdition" Now 
these are not " Protestant lies," as priests and 
bishops of Rome at the present day declare, they are 
historical facts acknowledged by the most eminent 
Roman Catholic annalists and historians, as we have 
seen. The following remarkable acknowledgment 



106 Lament of Baronius. 



is from Cardinal Baronius, one of the most powerful 
champions of popery, in reference to these events : 
— " ! what was then the fate of the holy Roman 
Church ! how filthy, when the vilest and most power- 
ful prostitutes ruled in the court of Rome ! by whose 
arbitrary sway dioceses were made and unmade, 
bishops were consecrated, and — which is inexpres- 
sibly horrible to be mentioned — False Popes, their 
Paramours, were thrust into the chair of St. Peter, 
who in being numbered as popes, serve no purpose 
but to fill up the catalogues of the popes of Rome. 
For who can say that persons thrust into the pope- 
dom by harlots of this sort were legitimate popes of 
Rome ? In this manner lust, supported by secular 
power, excited to frenzy, in the rage for domina- 
tion, ruled in all things." And yet, these " mon- 
sters of wickedness" are recognized, and some of 
them even worshipped, as the holy and infallible 
vicars of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the " holy suc- 
cessors of the apostles." What an infamous fraud ! 
The writers of the Romish Church attempt to 
reconcile the crimes of the bishops and popes with 
their high claims to holiness. Among other child- 
ish and illogical arguments some of them make the 
distinction between the man and the pope. As men 
they sin ; but as popes they are holy. Which recalls 
the reply of an humble gardener to his employer, 
who was an Archbishop. The Archbishop being 
vexed on account of the destruction of some favor- 
ite plants, scolded the poor gardener, and in doing 
so " swore like a trooper." Noticing the surprise of 



The Swearing Archbishop. 107 

the trembling workman, the Archbishop said, " You 
seem to be shocked to hear an Archbishop swear ; 
but you know, John, I do not swear as an Arch- 
bishop ; I swear only as a man." " May I ask your 
excellency," said the gardener, " when the man goes 
to the devil, what will become of the Archbishop t" 



CHAPTER V. 
Rival Popes. 

The Romish authorities would gladly have the 
world forget that in the fourteenth century there 
were three infallible popes at one time. But it is a 
fact in history too well established, and recorded by 
too many accredited historians, to be denied even by 
priests of Rome. The fact is a most perplexing one 
to them, for it too plainly disarranges and contra- 
dicts their boasted " apostolical succession." 

Pope Boniface VIII. was a man after Hilde- 
brand's own heart, and put forth such extravagant 
claims to universal sovereignty, and especially in 
his controversy with King Philip the Fair, of 
France, as to fill all thoughtful minds with con- 
tempt. Hallam, in his " Middle Ages," tells us how 
the quarrel began between the ambitious Pope, and 
the brave and self-respecting King. Philip the Fair 
imposed a tax on the ecclesiastical order without 
their consent. Irritated by some previous differ- 
ences, the Pope issued a bull absolute^ forbidding 
the clergy of every Kingdom to pay, under what- 
ever pretext of voluntary grant, gift or loan, any 
sort of tribute to their government without his 
special permission. Though France was not par- 
ticularly named, the King understood himself to be 
included, and took his revenge by a prohibition to 
export money from the Kingdom. This produced 
angry remonstrances on the part of Boniface ; but 

108 



Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair. 109 

the Gallican Church adhered so faithfully to the 
King, that the Pope with very poor grace was com- 
pelled to yield, so far as to permit the French clergy 
to assist their King by voluntary contributions, 
though not by way of tax. 

After a brief period of apparent friendliness 
between Pope and King, a terrible storm broke out 
in the first year of the fourteenth century. A bishop 
of Panniers, who had been sent as legate to the 
King from Boniface, with some complaint, displayed 
so much insolence and so much disrespect towards 
Philip, that the King caused his arrest. Boniface 
became so angry at this act of the French King that 
he published several bulls addressed to the King 
and clergy of France, in which he charged Philip 
with many offenses and commanding the clergy to 
attend a council which he had summoned to meet 
at Rome. In one of these instruments he declares 
very plainly that the King was subject to him in 
temporal as well as spiritual matters. Philip replied 
by a short letter in the rudest language, and 
ordered his bulls to be publicly burned at Paris. 

At the Pope's carnival in Rome the Pope promul- 
gated his famous bull, called Unam Sanctum, in which 
he declares that the church is one body of which he 
is the head. Under its commands are two swords 
the one spiritual, and the other temporal ; one to be 
used by the supreme pontiff himself, and the other 
by kings and temporal rulers by his license, and 
by his will. But the temporal must be subject to 
the spiritual authority. He concludes by declaring 



110 Tfie King Victorious. 

the wicked and shameful doctrine that every human 
being must be subject to the See of Rome, under 
pain of eternal damnation. Another bull declares 
that all persons, of whatever rank, are obliged to 
appear at the Pope's tribunal at Rome whenever 
summoned, " since it is our pleasure, who, by divine 
permission, rule the world." As the rupture with 
Philip was evidently irreconcilable, and the meas- 
ures pursued by that monarch more hostile, he not 
only excommunicated him, but offered the crown of 
France to the Emperor Albert I. Philip, in an 
assembly of his estates at Paris, preferred serious 
charges against the Pope, denying that he was 
legitimately elected, and imputing to him various 
heresies. But Philip went further than this, and 
sent Nogaret, a trusty officer, to Italy to arrest the 
Pope. Gibbon, the historian, says of this bold act 
of the French King. — " As the Pope resided at 
Anagni, without the suspicion of danger, his palace 
and person were assaulted by three hundred horse. 
The cardinals fled, but the dauntless Boniface 
unarmed and alone, seated himself in his chair, and 
awaited, like the conscript fathers of old, the swords 
of the guards." He says the Pope was insulted by 
words and blows, and he endured all this for three 
days, when he was rescued by his friends ; but he 
was wounded in a vital part, and Boniface expired 
at Rome in a frenzy of rage and revenge. This 
historian says : " His memory is stained with the 
glaring vices of avarice and pride ; nor has the 
courage of a martyr promoted this ecclesiastical 



French Popes. Ill 



champion to the honors of a saint. A magnan- 
imous sinner, (say the chronicles of the time) who 
entered like a fox, reigned like a lion, and died like 
a dog." 

This victory of the French King over one of the 
haughtiest of the popes, did much to weaken the 
papacy; but it was weakened still more by the 
removal of the papal court from Italy to France; 
from Rome to Avignon. Boniface was succeeded 
by Benedict XI., who filled the pontifical throne 
but a few months. King Philip now succeeded in 
securing the election of one of his own subjects to 
the vacant See, who took the name of Clement V. 
He fixed his residence in France, and spent the 
whole nine years of his reign in his native land 
without once visiting Rome, the ancient seat of 
papal grandeur and power. The Avignon popes 
continued to reside in France during a period of 
seventy years, which was often spoken of as " the 
seventy years captivity." Pope Gregory XL, who 
partly in consequence of a deputation from the 
people of Rome, and partly in consequence of the 
pretended revelations of a wretched fanatic, who 
has since been canonized as Saint Catharine, of 
Sienna, removed his court to Rome, where he died 
in 1378. This popish Saint Catharine pretended 
that on one occasion the Saviour appeared to her, 
accompanied by the Virgin Mary, and a numerous 
host of saints, and in their presence he solemnly 
espoused her,placing on her finger a gold ring adorned 
with four pearls and a diamond. After the vision had 



112 St. Catharine of Sienna. 

vanished, the ring still remained, sensible and palpa- 
ble to herself, though invisible to every other eye. 
She also declared that she had sucked the blood from 
the wound in his side, and that he had exchanged 
hearts with her, by taking her heart, and giving her 
his own. She also declared that she bore in her 
body the marks of his wounds, although no one 
could see these marks but herself. This is among the 
" signs, and lying wonders" which Paul said would 
be a sign of Anti-Christ, and of which we shall 
have more to say further on. 

At the time referred to the place of the pope's 
death was of as much importance as the locality in 
which he lived, because the election of a successor 
could hardly fail to be affected by the local circum- 
stances under which he might be chosen. There 
could be no security for the continuance of the papal 
residence in Rome until the tiara should be again 
placed on the head of an Italian. At Avignon, the 
French cardinals, who were in the majority, were 
sure to elect a French pope ; but the accident which 
should oblige the conclave to assemble in an Italian 
city, might probably lead, through the operation of 
external influences, to the choice of an Italian. 

At the time of the decease of Gregory XI., there 
were twenty-three cardinals, of whom six were 
absent at Avignon, and one was a legate in Tus- 
cany. Almost immediately after the obsequies of 
Gregory, the cardinals received a solemn remon- 
strance to this effect : " On behalf of the Roman 
Senate and people, they ventured to represent that 



The Romans Demand an Italian Pope. 113 

the Roman Church had suffered for seventy years a 
deplorable captivity by the removal of the Holy See 
to Avignon. That the faithful were no longer attracted 
to Rome, either by devotion or by interest ; since the 
Pope, the source of patronage, had scandalously 
deserted his church, so that there was danger lest 
that unfortunate city should be reduced to a vast 
and frightful solitude, and become an outcast from 
the world, of which it was still the spiritual Empress, 
as it once had been the temporal. Lastly, that as 
the only remedy for these evils, it was absolutely 
necessary to elect a Roman, or at least an Italian 
Pope ; especially as there was every appearance that 
the people, if disappointed in their just expectation, 
would have recourse to compulsion." In the mean- 
time, while the cardinals were in solemn conclave, 
the populace, who had already exhibited evidences 
of impatience, assembled in great crowds about the 
place of meeting, and continued in tumultuous 
assemblage during the whole deliberation of the 
conclave, so that the debates of the cardinals were 
frequently interrupted by the shouts of the mob 
crying out in the Italian language — " We will have 
a Roman for a Pope — a Roman, or at least an 
Italian ! " The result was that a Neapolitan, the 
Archbishop of Bari, was elected Pope. The new 
Italian Pope took the name of Urban VI. The very 
day after Urban's coronation as Pope, the cardinals 
were surprised and indignant at the severe manner 
in which their new master addressed them. He 
accused them of having deserted and betrayed their 



114 Urban VI. Elected and Deposed. 



people, in order to revel in luxury at the court of 
Rome, and he went so far as to accuse them of 
perjury. Four of the cardinals were Italians, and 
no sooner had the others left Rome for their own 
homes than they conspired together to depose the 
Pope whom they themselves had so recently chosen 
to his high and distinguished office. They first of 
all opened a correspondence with the court of 
France and University of Paris, and in the next 
place they assembled with great dignity and solem- 
nity in the principal church, and promulgated a 
public declaration, in the presence of many prelates 
and ecclesiastics, by which the Archbishop of Bari 
was denounced as an intruder into the pontifical 
office, and his election formally cancelled. 

" They then retired, for greater security to Fondi, 
in the Kingdom of Naples. Still they did not ven- 
ture to proceed to a new election in the absence, and 
it might be against the consent of the Italian cardi- 
nals. They treacherously set a trap to catch the 
votes of these cardinals, by making a secret promise 
to each of them separately, that he himself should 
be the object of their choice. Animated by this 
expectation they hastened to Fondi, with joy and 
confidence. The college of cardinals now assembled, 
and the French cardinals, having everything ar- 
ranged beforehand, the cardinal of Geneva was 
elected by unanimous vote ; a proceeding that would 
disgrace, even in our day, a Tammany caucus. 
This event took place on the twentieth of September, 
1378. The new Pope took the name of Clement VII., 
and was installed with the customary ceremonies." 



The Great Western Schism. 115 

Such was the origin of the great Western schism 
which divided the Romish Church, according to 
Gibbon, for more than fifty years, and accelerated 
more than any other event the decline of papal 
authority. Whether Urban or Clement is to be 
regarded as the lawful Pope, and the true successor 
of St. Peter, is even to this day a matter of doubt. 
Certain it is, however, that, as the apostles left no 
successors, neither of them sustained any relation 
whatever to that humble and godly man. 

Pope Urban remained at Rome, while Clement 
went to Avignon in France. The cause of Clement 
was espoused by France, Spain, Scotland, Sicily, and 
Cyprus, while all the rest of Europe acknowledged 
Urban to be the true Pope, and the genuine link in 
the chain of apostolical succession. 

The bitter antagonism between Pope Urban and 
his successors at Rome, and Pope Clement and 
his successors in France, was fomented with such 
dreadful success, and arose to such a shameful 
height, that for the space of forty or fifty years 
the Church had two or three different heads at 
the same time, each of the contending popes form- 
ing plots, and thundering out their anathemas 
against their competitors. Historians tell us that 
the distress and calamity of those times is far 
beyond all power of description ; for not to insist on 
the perpetual contentions and wars between the 
factions of the contending popes, by which multi- 
tudes lost their fortunes and lives, all sense of relig- 
ion was extinguished in most places, and profligacy 



116 Chaotic State of the Papacy. 

rose to a most scandalous excess. The clergy, while 
they vehemently contended which of the reigning 
popes was the true successor of Peter, were so exces- 
sively corrupt as to be no longer concerned about 
keeping up even the appearance of religion or 
decency. In consequence of all this, many plain, 
well-meaning people, who had been taught that 
no one could possibly be a partaker of eternal life 
unless united to the vicar of Christ, were over- 
whelmed with doubt, and plunged into the deepest 
distress of mind. Nevertheless these bitter and 
shameful disputes and wranglings were overruled 
for the promotion of civil and religious liberty, and 
popery received a deep and incurable wound, for 
kings and princes who had long been the slaves of 
the lordly pontiffs, now became their judges and 
masters. And many of the more intelligent of the 
people had the courage to despise the popes on 
account of their odious disputes about dominion, to 
commit their salvation to God alone, and to believe 
that religion might be maintained, and the trusting 
soul saved even though popes had no existence. 

At length it was resolved to call a general council 
for the purpose of terminating this'disgraceful schism, 
which was accordingly assembled at Pisa on the 25th 
of March, 1409. At this time the Roman Pope was 
Gregory XII., and the French Pope was Benedict XII. 
The latter had, while a cardinal, taken a solemn oath, 
if elected Pope, to resign the papacy should it be 
necessary for the peace of the Church. When, after 
his election, he was requested to fulfil this promise, 



Three Popes at One Time. 117 

he positively refused, and being besieged in Avig- 
non by the King of France, he made his escape. In 
consequence of thus being deserted by their Pope, 
eight or nine of his cardinals united with the cardi- 
nals of the Roman Pope Gregory in calling the 
Council of Pisa, in order to heal the divisions and 
contentions that so long rent and disgraced the 
Romish Church. 

This Council, however, which was designed to 
heal the wounds of the Church, had the very con- 
trary effect, and only opened a new breach and 
excited new divisions. Its proceedings, indeed, were 
sufficiently vigorous, and its measures were accom- 
panied with a just severity. A heavy sentence of 
condemnation was pronounced against the contend- 
ing pontiffs, who were both declared guilty of heresy, 
perjury, and contumacy, unworthy of the smallest 
tokens of honor or respect, and separated, ipso facto, 
from the communion of the Church. This act was 
followed by the election of one Pope in their place. 
The Pope elected by this Council of Pisa was Peter 
of Candia, known on the papal list as Alexander V., 
but all the decrees and proceedings of this famous 
council were treated with contempt by the con- 
demned pontiffs, who continued to enjoy the privi- 
leges, and to perform the functions of the papacy 
as if no attempts had been made^ to remove them 
from their exalted positions. Mosheim, the historian, 
says : " The deposed Popes, Gregory and Benedict, 
protested against these proceedings, and each con- 
voked another council, the one at Civitat de Frioul, 



118 Successors of Judas. 

and the other at Perpignan. With much difficulty 
they each succeeded in assembling together a' few pre- 
lates devoted to their cause, yet they, nevertheless, 
bestowed on these assemblies the name of ecumenical 
councils, which they had refused to give to that of 
Pisa. ' It is certain/ said they, 'that the Church is the 
Pope, and it suffices that the Pope be present in any 
place for the Church to be there also, and where the 
Pope is not, in the body, or in mind, no church is.'" 

We here see the holy Catholic Church, which 
boasts so much of its unity, and its purity, split up 
into three contending factions, under three pre- 
tended successors of the humble fisherman of Gali- 
lee, who loaded each other with reproaches and 
accusations of fraud, and lying and perjury, and 
simony, and other crimes, and their mutual accusa- 
tions were .undoubtedly true. But is it possible that 
those vile men were the holy representatives of the 
adorable Jehovah, and the true vicars of Jesus 
Christ ? It is certain that these proud and selfish 
and wicked men, instead of being the heads of 
God's infallible Church, were better entitled to the 
character of the successors of Judas, the traitor, or 
Simon, the sorcerer, rather than of the holy apostles 
of Jesus Christ. 

In the year 1410, Alexander V., who had been 
elected Pope at the Council of Pisa, died, and the 
sixteen cardinals who attended him at Bologna, 
immediately chose as his successor, the notorious 
and infamous man who assumed the name of John 
XXIII., and who afterward made such a figure at 



Pope John XXIIL, Fierce and Furious. 119 

the Council of Constance. The year after his elec- 
tion, Pope John XXIII. preached a crusade against 
Ladislaus of Hungary, who was contending with 
Louis II., of Anjou, for the crown of Naples, on 
account of the former adhering to the cause of the 
rival Pope Gregory XII. In the terrible bull of 
crusade, which he fulminated against Ladislaus, he 
enjoined, under pain of excommunication, all patri- 
archs, archbishops and prelates, to declare, on Sun- 
days and on fast days, with bells ringing and tapers 
burning, and then suddenly extinguished and flung 
on the ground, that Ladislaus was excommuni- 
cated, perjured, a schismatic, a blasphemer, a re- 
lapsed heretic, and a supporter of heretics, guilty of 
lese-majesty, and the enemy of the Pope and the 
Church. This Pope in the same manner excommu- 
nicated Ladislaus' children, to the third generation, 
as well as his adherents and well-wishers. He com- 
manded that if they happened to die, even with 
absolution, they should be deprived of ecclesiastical 
sepulture, and he declared that whoever should 
afford burial to Ladislaus and his partizans should 
be excommunicated, and should not be absolved 
until they had disinterred their bodies with their 
own hands. This holy (?) Pope urged upon all 
emperors, kings, princes, cardinals and the faith- 
ful of both sexes, by the sprinkling of the blood of 
Jesus Christ, to save the Church, by persecuting with- 
out mercy, and exterminating Ladislaus and his 
defenders. They who should enter on this crusade 
were to have the same indulgences as those who 



120 Vicars of Satan. 



should assist in the conquest of the Holy Land, and 
in case any should happen to die before the accom- 
plishment of their aim, they should enjoy all the 
same privileges as if they had died in accomplish- 
ing it. 

In the meantime, in consequence of these disgrace- 
ful squabbles of the pretended holy vicars of Jesus 
Christ, the different states of the continent were so 
many theatres of war and rapine, and the clergy, 
instead of directing their efforts to put an end to 
the evil, evidently added fuel to the fire by their 
example. And how could it be otherwise, when 
three popes showed more anxiety to destroy each 
other, than to make known the Gospel of Christ, or 
to promote the welfare of mankind ? Through the 
influence of the Emperor Sigismund, the Council of 
Constance was convened in 1414. By this council, 
the two popes, John XXIII. and Benedict XIII. 
were deposed, while they secured the resignation of 
the Roman Pontiff, Gregory XII., after which a new 
pope was elected, who took the name of Martin V., 
and thus the disgraceful schism was at last healed. 

This concise view of the bitter wranglings, and 
mutual recriminations of these opposing popes, who 
mutually accused each other of most shameful 
crimes, and yet each claiming to be the infallible 
vicar of Jesus Christ, clearly proves the claim of 
apostolical succession to be a fraud, and a lie, and 
that those popes were vice-gerents of Satan, and the 
Church of Rome to be Antichrist — the great enemy 
of God, and of the human race. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Little Horn Still Growing. 

Having made very clear that " the man of sin 
and son of perdition," truly describes the Popes of 
Rome, we will return to the other prophecies of 
Paul, as contained in 2 Thess : 2 chapter, and we 
shall see that the little horn, in Daniel — chapter vii. 
— has grown prodigiously, according to Paul's out- 
look. Of this " man of sin, and son of perdition," 
it is said that he " opposeth and exalteth himself 
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; 
so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, 
showing himself that he is God" 

As this book is not a commentary, it is not for us 
to attempt an exegesis of Paul's words. We simply 
attempt to make very plain the fact that the inspired 
description of Antichrist, as found in the holy script- 
ures, finds its exact counterpart in the actual history 
of the Roman Catholic Church, thus clearly proving 
that so-called church to be Antichrist. The state- 
ment that the man of sin " opposeth" God evidently 
means that he is distinguished as the opposer of the 
great system which God has revealed for human sal- 
vation. No intelligent person at all acquainted 
with the history of the papacj^ will doubt that this 
has been the principal effort of that wicked system 
for ages and centuries. A very learned writer of 
the last century says — "'He opposeth; 7 he is the 
great adversary to God and man, excommunicating 

121 



122 The Great Blasphemer. 

and anathematizing, persecuting, and destroying, 
by crusades and inquisitions, by massacres, and hor- 
rid executions, those sincere Christians who prefer 
the word of God to all the authority of men. The 
heathen emperor of Rome may have slain his thou- 
sands of innocent Christians; but the (so-called) 
Christian bishop hath slain his tens of thousands. 
There is scarcely any country that hath not at one 
time or other been made the stage of their bloody 
tragedies: scarce any age that hath not, in some 
place or other, seen them acted." 

In the same verse from which we quote — 2 
Thess. 2 : 4 — Paul says of " the man of sin" that " he 
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or 
that is worshipped/' and the learned Bishop New- 
ton, in his Lectures on the Prophecies, says : — " Not 
only above inferior magistrates, but likewise above 
bishops and primates, exerting an absolute jurisdic- 
tion, and uncontrolled supremacy over all ; not only 
over bishops and primates ; but over kings and 
emperors, deposing some, and advancing others, 
obliging them to prostrate themselves before him, 
to kiss his toe, to hold his stirrup, to wait bare- 
footed at his gate, treading even upon the neck and 
kicking off the imperial crown with his foot; nor 
only above Kings and emperors, but likewise above 
Christ and God himself, making the commands of God 
of none effect by his traditions, forbidding what God 
hath commanded, as marriage, communion in both 
kinds, the use of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, 
and the like, and also commanding or allowing, what 



" Our Lord God The Pope." 123 

God has forbidden, as idolatry, persecution, works of 
suprerogation, and various other instances. ' So that 
he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing 
himself that he is God.' He is therefore by profession 
a Christian, and a Christian bishop. His ( sitting in 
the temple of God/ plainly implies his having his 
seat, or cathedra, in the christian church; and he 
sitteth there as God, especially at his inauguration, 
when he sitteth on the high altar in St. Peter's 
Church, and maketh the table of the Lord his footstool, 
and in that position receiveth adoration. At all times 
he exerciseth divine authority in the church, ' show- 
ing himself that he is God' affecting divine attri- 
butes and titles, as holiness and infallibility, assuming 
divine powers, and prerogatives in condemning and 
absolving men, in retaining and forgiving sins, in 
asserting his decrees to be of the same, or greater 
authority than the word of God, and commanding 
them to be received under penalty of the same or 
greater damnation. Like another Salmoneus he is 
proud to imitate the state and thunder of the 
Almighty, and is styled, and pleased to be styled, 
1 Our Lord God, the Pope ; another God upon earth ; 
king of kings, and lord of lords ; the same is the 
dominion of God and the pope. To believe that 
our Lord God the pope might not decree as he 
decreed, it were a matter of heresy. The power of 
the pope is greater than all created power, and 
extends itself to things celestial and terrestrial, and 
infernal. The pope doeth whatsoever he listeth, even 
things unlawful, and is more than God' 



124 Universal Bishop. 

" Such blasphemies are not only allowed, but are 
even approved, encouraged, rewarded in the writers 
of the Church of Rome ; and they are not only the 
extravagances of the Roman writers, but are the 
language even of decertals and acts of councils. So 
that the pope is evidently God upon earth ; at least 
there is no one like him ' who exalteth himself 
above every God ;' no one like him, ' who sitteth 
in the temple of God, showing himself that he is 
God.' " 

It will be interesting and instructive to consider 
how the title of Universal Bishop, or Universal 
Pope was acquired in the first instance. During 
the last few years of the sixth centuiy the contest 
for supremacy between the bishops of Rome and 
Constantinople raged with greater acrimony than 
during any preceding period. The bishop of Con- 
stantinople not only claimed an unrivalled sover- 
eignty over the eastern churches, but also claimed 
that his church, in point of dignity, was in no sense 
inferior to that of Rome. The Roman Pontiffs, 
with no little feeling, warmly resented such preten- 
sions, and earnestly asserted the preeminence of 
their church, and its undoubted superiority over 
that of Constantinople. Gregory the Great, dis- 
tinguished himself in this unbecoming contest ; and 
the fact that in a council held in 588, John, the 
Bishop of Constantinople, assumed the title of Uni- 
versal Bishop, furnished Gregory with a favorable 
opportunity for entering his protest. Evidently 
believing that the design of his rival was to obtain 



The Blasphemous Title. 125 

the supremacy over all christian churches, Gregory 
opposed his pretentions with the utmost energy, and 
in order to establish his own authority more firmly, 
he invented the fiction of " the power of the Keys/' 
as committed to the successors of St. Peter, rather 
than to the body of the bishops, according to the 
previous opinions, and says Waddington, " He 
betrayed on many occasions a very ridiculous 
eagerness to secure that honor. Consequently he 
was profuse in his distribution of certain Keys, 
endowed, as he was not ashamed to assert, with 
supernatural qualities ; he even ventured to insult 
Anastasius, the bishop of Antioch, by such a gift. 
' 1 have sent you/ he says, ' Keys of the blessed 
Apostle Peter, your guardian, which, when placed 
upon the sick, are w r ont to be resplendent with 
numerous miracles.' We may attribute this absur- 
dity to the basest \ superstition, or to the most impu- 
dent hypocracy, and we would gladly have preferred 
the more excusable motive, if the supposed advance- 
ment of the See, which was clearly concerned in 
these presents, did not rather lead us to the latter." 
Gregory wrote to his own ambassador at Constan- 
tinople, to the patriarch John, and to the Emperor 
Mauritius, in which, in various passages, he 
denounces the title of universal bishop as "vain," 
"execrable," " anti-christian," " blasphemous/' "infer- 
nal," and " diabolical," " proud, and foolish appella- 
tion," etc. " Whom," says he in a letter to John, 
" whom do you propose to imitate by this perverse 
name but him who, despising the legions of angels, 



126 Popery Self- Condemned. 

his companions, endeavoured to break forth, and to 
ascend to an elevation peculiar to himself, that he 
might seem to be subject to none, and to be above 
all of them ? Above whom, when you thus desire 
to elevate yourself by this haughty title, and to tread 
down their name in comparison with yours, what 
do you say but, I will ascend into heaven, I will 
exalt my throne above the stars of heaven ?" "But 
far from christians be this blasphemous name, by 
which all honor is taken from all other priests, 
while it is foolishly arrogated by one." 

In a letter to the Emperor, Gregory says : " I am 
bold to say that whoever adopts, or effects the title 
of universal bishop, has the pride and character of 
Antichrist." It will be well for every reader of 
this volume to consider well the words of Gregory, 
confessedly one of the most eminent of the Romish 
bishops, and who has by them been canonized as Saint 
Gregory ; in which he places the brand of Antichrist 
on whoever assumes this title. We do but repeat 
the opinion so emphatically expressed by " Saint 
Gregory," only a few years before the actual occur- 
rence of this remarkable event in the history of 
Popery. Boniface III., who succeeded Gregory, in 
605, was so far from having any scruples about this 
blasphemous title, that he actually applied to 
the Emperor Phocas, a cruel and bloodthirsty 
tyrant, and earnestly solicited the title, with the 
privilege of handing it down to his successors. The 
profligate emperor, who had a secret grudge against 
the patriarch of Constantinople, granted the request 



Antichrist Revealed. 127 

of Boniface, and after strictly forbidding the former 
to use the title, conferred it on Boniface in the year 
606, and declared the church of Rome to be head 
over all other churches." (Dowling's History of 
Romanism.) Thus was Paul's prediction accom- 
plished, "The Man of Sin" revealed, and that 
system of ecclesiastical and political tyranny prop- 
erly called Popery, established in the world. The 
title of Universal Bishop, which was then obtained 
by Boniface, has been worn by all succeeding bishops 
of Rome, and the claim of universal supremacy 
which was then established, has ever since been 
maintained, and defended by them, and still is at 
the present day. An infallible pope has branded 
Popery as being truly Antichrist. 

It will be interesting to take a look at the man 
who first conferred the title which the popes have 
for more than twelve hundred years, delighted to 
wear. We have said of this emperor Phocas that he 
was a cruel and blood-thirsty man. Let us see what 
history says of him. By doing so we shall see that 
so far from the Roman Catholic Church, being, as it 
boasts, the holy Church of Christ, it is most cer- 
tainly " The Son of Perdition ; " that is, the child 
of the Devil. Phocas was a native of Asia Minor, 
of obscure and unknown parentage, who entered the 
army of the emperor Mauritius as a common sol- 
dier. Having attained the rank of centurian, a 
petty officer with the command of a hundred men, 
he happened to be with his company on the banks 
of the Danube, in the year 602, when he headed a 



128 Infamous Origin of Papacy. 

mutiny against the emperor among his troops, 
caused himself to be proclaimed leader of the insur- 
rection, and marched with them to Constantinople. 
" So obscure had been the former condition of 
Phocas," says Gibbon, " that the Emperor was quite 
ignorant of even the name of his rival, but as soon 
as he had learned that the centurian, though bold 
in sedition, was timid in the face of danger, ' Alas ! ' 
cried the prince, ' if he is a coward he will surely be 
a murderer/ " 

Upon the approach of Phocas to Constantinople, 
the unfortunate emperor, with his wife and nine 
children, escaped in a small bark to the Asiatic 
shore ; but the violence of the wind compelled him 
to land, and he sent his eldest son, Theodosius, to 
implore the assistance of the Persian Monarch. For 
himself he patiently awaited the result of the revo- 
lution. The traitor Phocas was successful, and he 
entered the city in triumph in a chariot drawn by 
four white horses. The ministers of death were sent 
to Chalcedon, and the five sons of the emperor were 
cruelly murdered before his eyes. As each mur- 
derous stroke fell on the forms of his beloved chil- 
dren, the agonized Mauritius piously exclaimed — 
" Thou art just, Lord ! and thy judgments are 
righteous." The tragic scene was ended by the 
murder of the emperor himself, in the twentieth 
year of his reign, and the sixty-third year of his 
age. The bodies of the father and his five sons were 
cast into the sea, and their heads were exposed at 
Constantinople, to the insults of the mob. The 



Murder of the Royal Ladies. 129 

flight of Theodosius, the son of the unfortunate 
Emperor, to the Persian court, was intercepted by a 
rapid pursuit, and he was beheaded at Nice, by the 
order of Phocas. 

In the massacre of the imperial family, the 
usurper had spared the widow and three daughters 
of the late Emperor, but the discovery or suspicion 
of a conspiracy kindled the fury of Phocas. These 
unfortunate ladies took refuge in one of the churches 
of the city, then regarded as an inviolable asylum. 
The Patriarch, moved partly by compassion for the 
royal sufferers, and partly by reverence for the 
place, would not permit them to be dragged from 
their hiding place. The tyrant, although indignant 
at the spirit shown by the bishop, thought it to 
be the wisest policy not to antagonize the church at 
the very beginning of his reign, desisted from using 
force ; but by means of the most solemn oaths and 
promises of safety prevailed on the royal ladies to 
quit their asylum, in consequence of which they also 
soon became the helpless victims of his fury. " A 
matron," says Gibbon, " who commanded the respect 
and pity of mankind; the daughter, wife, and 
mother of emperors, was tortured like the vilest 
of malefactors, and the empress Constantina, with 
her three innocent daughters, was beheaded at Chal- 
cedon, on the same ground that had been stained 
with the blood of her husband and five sons. The 
hippodrome, the sacred asylum of the pleasures, and 
the liberty of the Romans, was polluted with heads, 
and limbs, and mangled bodies ; and the compan- 



130 Why Not Canonize Phocas ? 

ions of Phocas were the most sensible that neither 
his favor, nor their services could protect them from 
a tyrant, the worthy rival of the Caligulas and 
Domitians of the first age of the empire." 

The imperial family having thus been horribly 
murdered, the blood-thirsty tyrant began to proceed 
with the same inexorable cruelty against all their 
friends, and against all who showed any sympathy 
for them, or had borne any civil or military employ- 
ments in the service of the late emperor. Thus 
throughout the empire were men of the highest 
rank and distinction, daily executed, or publicly or 
privately massacred. Some were inhumanly tor- 
tured ; others had their hands and feet cut off, and 
some were set up as marks for the raw soldiery 
to shoot at, in learning the exercise of the bow. 
The populace met with no better treatment than the 
nobility, great numbers of them being daily seized 
for speaking disrespectfully of the tyrant, and either 
killed by his guards on the spot, or tied up in sacks 
and thrown into the sea, or dragged to prison, 
which by that means were so crowded that multi- 
tudes of them died of the hardships they endured. 

The pen of impartial history thus presents us 
with the character of the man to whom the Papacy 
is indebted for the title by which she has been 
known and distinguished for more than a dozen 
centuries. Such is the foundation, and the only 
foundation, on which their lordly title rests, and 
on the basis of which the imbecile old man, Leo 
XIII., in this last decade of the nineteenth century, 



Daniel and Paul Agree. 131 

issues his " infallible " commands from the Vatican 
at Rome, not only to " the faithful " of his own 
church, but to the people and government of these 
United States ; for his language is, as stated by 
Cardinal Manning, no longer ago than in 1869 : — 
" I claim to be the Supreme Judge and Director 
of the consciences of men — of the peasant that tills 
the field, and the prince that sits on the throne ; of 
the household that sits in the shade of privacy, and 
of the Legislature that makes laws for Kingdoms. 
I am the sole last Supreme Judge of what is right 
and wrong." Horrible blasphemer! But Anti- 
christ, Paul said, " Sitteth in the temple of God, 
showing himself that he is God." And there he is, 
at this moment, in the Vatican, made a " god " by 
Phocas the traitor, and one of bloodiest murderers 
that ever cursed God's green earth ! Here again we 
see the Little Horn "Having a mouth, and speaking 
great things against the most high." 

Bishop Newton, in his learned work, " On The 
Prophecies," shows that Paul is speaking of the 
same " Little Horn " of which Daniel speaks. He 
says: "In St. Paul " he opposeth," and in Daniel 
" he doeth according to his will, and weareth out 
the saints of the Most High." In St. Paul " he 
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or 
that is worshipped," showing himself that he is 
God ; and in Daniel, " he exalteth himself and mag- 
nifieth himself against every God, and speaketh 
marvellous things against the God of gods." In St. 
Paul he is " the lawless one," and in Daniel he 



132 The Bible Prohibited. 

" changeth times and laws." In St. Paul his coming 
is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness ; and 
in Daniel "he practiceth and prospereth, and 
through his policy causeth craft to prosper in his 
hand." He says, " The characters and circum- 
stances are so much the same that they must belong 
to one and the same person." He says also : — " The 
tyrannical power thus described by Daniel and St. 
Paul, and afterwards by St. John, is both by ancients 
and moderns generally denominated Antichrist; 
and the name is proper and expressive enough, as 
it may signify both the enemy of Christ, and the 
vicar of Christ, and no one is more the enemy of 
Christ than he who arrogates his name and power, 
and no one more directly " opposes " the King than 
he who assumes his title and authority. 

How can it be said that the Pope of Rome 
" exalteth himself above God " as Paul says ? He 
who dares to alter God's laws, or to set them aside, 
or who dares to put his own laws in the place of 
God's laws, most certainly exalts himself " above " 
God. And the popes of Rome are guilty of this 
daring blasphemy, as we shall see. In the first 
place God commands men to read thg Bible : He 
says, " Search the Scriptures ; " but the church of 
Rome forbids the reading of the Bible. 

The Church of Rome has always hated the Bible, 
and well she may, for the Bible is the enemy of 
popery, and exposes her lying and hypocracy, and 
proves her to be Antichrist. The Council of Trent, 
whose definitions, and rules, and laws, now govern 



Council of Trent on the Bible. 133 

the papacy, made the following decree in 1564: 
" Inasmuch as it is manifest from experience that if 
the Holy Bible, translated into the vulgar tongue, 
be indiscriminately allowed to every one, the tem- 
erity of men will cause more evil than good to arise 
from it, it is on this point referred to the judgment 
of the bishops, or inquisitors, who may, with the 
advice of the priest or confessor, Permit the 
Reading of the Bible, translated into the vulgar 
tongue by Catholic authors, to those persons whose 
faith and piety, they apprehend will not be injured 
by it, and this permission they must have in writing. 
But if any one shall have the presumption to read or 
possess it without such written permission, he shall 
not receive absolution until he has first delivered up 
such Bible to the ordinary. Booksellers, however, 
who shall sell, or otherwise dispose of Bibles in the 
vulgar tongue to any person not having such per- 
mission, shall forfeit the value of the books, to be 
applied by the bishops to some pious use, and be 
subjected by the bishops to such other penalties as the 
bishops shall judge proper, according to the quality 
of the offense. But regulars shall neither read nor 
purchase such Bibles without a special license from 
their superiors." 

In this shameful and blasphemous decree of the 
highest authority of the Papacy, we find the Romish 
antichrist daring to rob men of the holy light that 
can guide them to heaven; inflicting "penalties" on 
those who have the "presumption" to read the word 
of God ! God says to men : " Search the Scriptures ;" 



134 John Wickliffe. 



and the Pope says : " Although God gives you per- 
mission and commands you to read His Holy Word, 
I say you shall not read that word without permission 
from me," Surely we see here " the man of sin and 
son of perdition who opposeth God," and " exalts him- 
self above God." 

One of the holiest and most useful men who ever 
lived was John Wickliffe, in the 14th century. 
Brought up in the Romish Church and disgusted 
with the profligacy and wickedness of the popes and 
priests, he believed that the best way to effect a 
reformation was by letting in the light of God's 
word on the darkness that everywhere prevailed. 
He translated the Bible into the English tongue, 
and for this crime the Romish Church has cherished 
for him the bitterest hatred. The " holy " Council 
of Constance, by the direction, or at least with the 
approval, of the Pope, decreed that the dead body 
of Wickliffe should be taken up out of the grave 
and burnt as a heretic, and his ashes cast into the 
river ; and this horrible decree was actually carried 
into effect after he had been dead more than forty 
years ! Rome hates the light ! 

But it may be said that " Rome may have changed." 
This is what many do say. No, Rome boasts that 
she never changes. How can infallibility change ? 

Let us see how Rome regards the Bible in modern 
times. As late as May 8th, 18^, Pope Gregory XVI. 
issued a bull in regard to bibles and bible societies 
that were greatly troubling his righteous soul. It 
would be interesting to read the entire letter of 



The Pope and the Bible Societies. 135 

the Pope, but our space will not permit. In speak- 
ing of Protestant Bible Societies and other Protest- 
ant agencies for the distribution of the Scriptures, 
he says, after having endorsed and confirmed all 
preceding decrees of the popes against the Bible : 
" Wherefore, having consulted some of the cardinals 
of the Holy Romish Church, after having duly ex- 
amined with them everything, and listened to their 
advice, we have decided, venerable brothers, on 
addressing you this letter, by which again we condemn 
the Bible Societies, reproved long ago by our predeces- 
sors, and by virtue of the supreme authority of our 
apostleship we reprove by name, and condemn the 
aforesaid Society, called The Christian Alliance, 
formed last year at New York ; it, together with 
every other society associated with it, or which may 
become so. 

" Let all know, then, the enormity of the sin against 
God and his Church which they are guilty of who 
dare to associate themselves with any of these soci- 
eties, or abet them in any way. Moreover, we con- 
firm and renew the decrees recited above, delivered 
in former times by apostolic authority, against the 
publication, distribution, reading, or possession of 
books of the Holy Scriptures translated into the 
vulgar tongue." Twenty years later, in 1864, Pope 
Pius IX. also denounces Bible societies as " pests." 
Here again popes " condemn " what God approves. 

In 1895, the present Pope, Leo XIII., wrote a 
letter inviting the Church of England to return to 
the warm and loving embrace of " The Mother of all 



136 Cannon Farrar to Leo XIII. 

Churches." In reply to Pope Leo, Canon Farrar 
makes use of these words : " But his successor, in 
the Bull Unigenitus, denounced the free reading of 
the Scriptures by the laity, and made the rights of 
free Christian men to read the word of God to de- 
pend on the permission of priests, often grossly 
ignorant, who in thousands of instances did not 
themselves possess it, and had never read it. Many 
a martyr has been imprisoned, tortured and burnt 
by the Church of Rome for possessing the Bible, or 
a part of it. And persecution on this account has 
been continued even to our own days" And this emi- 
nent scholar quotes, in a note, the words of Cardinal 
Wiseman, who died but a few years ago, who says : 
" We must deny to Protestants any- right use of the 
Bible, much more to interpret it." Cannon Farrar 
goes on to say : " ' In the Netherlands/ says Motley, 
' the possession of the Sermon on the Mount in the 
vernacular led to the gibbet; the tyranny of priests, 
burning those whom they could not refute, made it 
death by burning to read the Bible.' Is the English 
people, which since the days of the Reformation has 
been ' the people of one Book/ — the people to whose 
Queen, on her coronation, that Book, taken off the 
Holy Table, was presented by the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, with the words, ' We here present to 
your Majesty the most valuable possession in the 
whole world.' Is that people to thank the Church 
and its popes who so furiously persecuted even the 
memory of Wickliffe ; the Church which approved 
the decree De haeretico comburendo, and made the 



Bible Burning in New York. 137 

free possession of the Bible in the vernacular a sin, 
rendering men incapable of absolution, ' unless they 
have first given up their Bibles to the ordinary V 
Was it a proof of the l loving tenderness ' of the 
popes like Pius IV., Clement XL, and Leo XIL, that 
they regarded the free reading of a vernacular Bible 
as a feeding in ' poisonous pastures?' Are we, with 
Pius IX., to class Bible societies as ' pests/ with 
various socialistic guilds ?" 

It is not so long ago that the priests of Rome 
made bonfires of Bibles. This has been done even 
in our own country where this holy book is so free, 
and so much revered. Dr. Dowling, in his " History 
of Romanism" gives an account of the public burn- 
ing of Bibles, no longer ago than October 27th, 
1844, in Champlain, in the State of New York. He 
says, " The following account of this sacrilegious 
outrage is from an official statement of facts, signed 
by four respectable citizens appointed as a com- 
mittee for that purpose." Their statement is as fol- 
lows : "About the middle of October, a Mr. Sel- 
mont, a missionary of the Jesuits, with one or more 
associates, came to Corlean, in this town, where the 
Catholic Church is located, and as they say in their 
own account given of their visit, by the direction of 
the bishop of Montreal. On their arrival they com- 
menced a protracted meeting which lasted several 
weeks, and great numbers of Catholics from this 
and other towns attended day after day. After the 
meeting had progressed several days, and the way 
was prepared for it, an order was issued requiring 



138 Bonfires of Bibles in 181^5. 

all who had Bibles, or Testaments, to bring them in 
to the priest, or lay them at the feet of the mission- 
aries. The requirement was generally complied 
with, and day after day Bibles and Testaments 
were carried in, and after a sufficient number was 
collected they were burned. By the confession of 
Telmont there were several burnings, but only one in 
public. On the 27th of October, as given in testi- 
mony at the public meeting held there, Telmont, 
who was a prominent man in all the movements, 
brought out from the residence of the priest, which 
is near the church, as many Bibles as he could carry 
in his arms at three times, and placed them in a pile in 
the open yard, and then set fire to them, and burned 
them to ashes. This was done in open day, and in the 
presence of many spectators." 

Many Protestants, not knowing the facts, suppose 
that it is only Protestant versions of the Bible the 
priests object to, but this is a mistake, as they object 
even to their own Romish version. In about 1845 
the American Bible Society received a letter from 
its agent in Chili, South America, a part of which 
only, can be given here. The agent says : " On 
Sabbath evening, the time fixed for the sacrilegi- 
ous conflagration, a procession was formed, having 
the curate at the head, and conducted with the 
usual pomp, the priest kneeling a few moments at 
each corner of the square, and placing a large cruci- 
fix on the ground. During the afternoon a fire had 
been kindled for the purpose, I was told by several 
bystanders, of burning heretical books which ridi- 



Burning Bibles in 1895. 139 

culed the mass and confession, and among the 
number was mentioned the New Testament. A 
guard of soldiers prevented me from examining 
them separately, but I stood sufficiently near to dis- 
cover that the greater part were copies of the New 
Testament, issued by the American Bible Society. 
As the flame ascended, increasing in brightness, one 
• of the clergy shouted ' Viva Deos,' (Let God reign), 
which was immediately echoed by the large con- 
course of people." And it should not be forgotten 
that — " the Scriptures burned were of the approved 
Spanish version, translated from the Vulgate by a 
Spanish Roman Catholic Bishop. They were New 
Testaments, too, so the plea that the Apocrypha was 
excluded could not be urged. They were portions 
of their own acknowledged word of God, and be- 
cause, in the vulgar tongue, and without popish 
notes, they were committed to the flames." Within 
a few months there was a public Bible burning in 
the city of Lima, Peru, conducted by Roman Cath- 
olic officials, and that, too, in the year of our Lord, 
1895. History records many other instances of 
popish Bible burnings, but these must suffice. 

There can be no clearer, or more arrogant in- 
stance of assuming to be " above all that is called 
God, or that is worshipped," than in claiming the 
right to set aside God's laws, and to substitute one's 
own laws for the laws of God. And yet this has 
been done, and is now being done, by the Church of 
Rome. God says, " Marriage is honorable in all ;" 
and He also says, " A bishop must be the husband 



140 The Pope vs. God. 



of one wife." But the Romish church says that 
marriage is not honorable for priests and nuns, and 
a bishop shall not be the husband of one wife. God 
says, " Every creature of God is good, and is to be 
partaken of with thanksgiving ;" but the Romish 
church says, that every creature of God is not good, 
and commands that the millions of Romanists shall 
not eat meat on Fridays, or during Lent, etc. In 
these, and other instances, the bishops and priests 
of Rome blasphemously set the laws of their church 
above the laws of God. But perhaps the most 
daring defiance of the Almighty is in their insolent 
alteration of the Ten Commandments. They have 
dared to strike out the second commandment, and to 
make up the full number of ten by dividing the 
tenth into two. And they have done this for the 
wicked purpose of becoming image-worshipping 
idolators contrary to the divine prohibition. 

The Apostle John (1 John, 2 : 22) says : " Who 
is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the 
Christ ? He is antichrist that denieth the Father and 
the Son." Not simply he that denies the existence 
of the Father, and of Jesus Christ ; but he most cer- 
tainly denies the Father and the Son who denies 
their exclusive claims, or prerogatives, or who pre- 
sents rival claims. We have already seen how the 
Romish Church does this in regard to God, as God, 
and we will now show that said Church proves 
itself to be Antichrist by denying " the Son" The 
Church of Rome makes much pretence of reverence 
for Christ; but, as Paul said to Titus, (chap. 1: 16) 



" Denieth the Father and the Son." 141 

" They profess that they know God, but in works 
they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, 
and unto every good work reprobate." Jesus Christ 
says : " No man cometh unto the Father but by 
Me." The Church of Rome says : " No man 
cometh unto the Father but by Me." Such denial 
of, and insult to, the Son of God seems incredible, 
and impossible ; but here is the positive proof of it : 
In the " Full Catechism of the Catholic Religion," 
published by authority of Cardinal Wiseman, and 
Archbishop Hughes, of New York, we read, on page 
145, " Every one is obliged, under pain of eternal dam- 
nation, to become a member of the Catholic Church, 
to believe her doctrines, to use her means of grace, 
and to submit to her authority." There you have 
it ! The Romish Church " denieth the Son," by 
robbing Him of his most glorious prerogative as 
the only Saviour of lost men. Paul declares, " There 
is One Mediator between God and men, the man 
Christ Jesus." The Church of Rome " denieth the 
Son " by multiplying mediators, thus robbing Him 
of his glory. It is well known that Romanists pray 
to the Virgin Mary, and to hosts of so-called saints. 
The following prayers to the Virgin Mary are to be 
found in the " Mission Book " in common use in the 
Roman Catholic Church : " 0, Queen of the uni- 
verse, and most bountiful sovereign ! thou art the 
great advocate of sinners, the sure port of those who 
have suffered shipwreck, the resource of the world, 
the ransom of captives, the solace of the weak, the 
comfort of the afflicted, the refuge and salvation of 



142 Christ Blasphemed. 

every creature. 0, full of grace ! enlighten my 
understanding, and loosen my tongue that I may 
recount thy praises, and sing to thee that angelical 
salutation that thou dost so justly merit. Hail! 
thou who art the peace, the joy, the consolation of 
the whole world ! Hail ! Paradise of delight, the 
sure asylum of all who are in danger, the source of 
grace, the mediatrix between God and man ! " On the 
same page, 161, is the following prayer : " Most 
holy and immaculate Virgin, my Mother Mary, it is 
to thee, the Mother of my God, the Queen of the 
world, the advocate, the hope, and the refuge of sinners, 
that I have recourse to-day, I who am the most 
miserable of all. I render thee my humble homage, 
0, great Queen, and I thank thee for all thy graces 
which thou hast bestowed upon me until now, par- 
ticularly for having delivered me from hell, which I 
have so often deserved. I love thee, most amiable 
Sovereign, and for the love I bear thee I promise to 
serve thee always, and do all in my power to make 
others serve thee also. ... I confide my salvation to 
thy care. Accept me for thy servant, and receive me 
under thy mantle, Mother of mercy, and since 
thou art so powerful with God, deliver me from all 
temptations. ... To thee I look for grace to make 
a good death. ... Do not leave me until thou seest 
me safe in heaven, occupied in blessing thee, and 
singing thy mercies throughout eternity ." 

In these prayers to Mary, which are being offered 
up by Romanists all over the world, the One 
Mediatorship of Jesus Christ is ignored and other 



Multiplying Mediators. 143 

mediators are added. To offer such prayers to any 
being but God, is an insult to our Saviour, and 
blasphemy against God. The Apostle John says: 
" If any man sin we have an Advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous" But in the above 
prayers Mary is appealed to as " the great advocate of 
sinners" She is called " the refuge of sinners," a title 
belonging to Christ alone. She is appealed to as 
" having delivered my soul from hell" a work achieved 
by Christ alone. But Rome has multitudes of medi- 
ators to whom Romanists pray besides Mary. The 
papacy has canonized over twenty thousand saints, 
and each one is a " mediator/ 5 to whom poor, super- 
stitious Romanists offer prayer. Here are a few of 
them in the " Catholic Manual/' p. 250. 

" Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, 
pray for us. Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us. 
St. Michael, pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us. 
St. Raphael, pray for us. All ye holy Angels and 
Archangels, pray for us. All ye holy orders of 
blessed Spirits, pray for us. St. John the Baptist, 
pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us. All ye holy 
Patriarchs and Prophets, pray for us. St. Peter, 
pray for us. St. Paul, pray for us. St. Andrew, 
pray for us. St. James, pray for us. St. John, pray 
for us. St. Thomas, pray for us. St. Philip, pray 
for us. St. Bartholomew, pray for us. St. Matthew, 
pray for us. St. Simon, pray for us. St. Thaddeus, 
pray for us. St. Barnaby, pray for us. St. Luke, 
pray for us. St. Mark, pray for us. All ye holy 
Apostles and Evangelists, pray for us. All ye holy 



144 Christ not Sufficient. 

Disciples of our Lord, pray for us. All ye holy in- 
nocents, pray for us. St. Stephen, pray for us. St. 
Lawrence, pray for us. St. Vincent, pray for us. 
S. S. Fabian and Sebastian, pray for us. S. S. John 
and Paul, pray for us. S. S. Cosmas and Damian, 
pray for us. S. S. Gervase and Protase, pray for us. 
All ye holy Martyrs, pray for us. St. Sylvester, pray 
for us. St. Gregory, pray for us." 

But we will stop here, although the list of saintly 
mediators goes on. But this Christ dishonoring 
multiplication of mediators shows Rome's dissatis- 
faction with the " One Mediator " whom God hath 
appointed, and again proves that the Papacy is 
Antichrist, for " He is antichrist that denieth the 
Father and the Son." The Little Horn had a mouth, 
" speaking great words against the Most High. " 



CHAPTER VII. 
Hindrances Removed. 
Paul, the apostle, in the chapter from which we 
have been quoting, (2 Thess., 2) declares that in 
his day there was something that hindered the revela- 
tion of " the man of sin," or that postponed his mani- 
festation. The Thessalonians knew what it was, 
for he had told them by word of mouth, for he says 
(verse 5)— " When I was with you I told you these 
things." The most eminent students of the proph- 
ecies are agreed in believing that what hindered 
was the Roman civil power, and we have seen in a 
previous chapter, that as a historical fact the Pa- 
pacy was but a little horn so long as the empire 
existed. Bishop Newton, in his work, already 
referred to, quotes from Machiavers History of 
Florence : " The emperor of Rome quitting Rome 
to hold his residence in Constantinople, the Roman 
empire began to decline, but the church of Rome 
augmented as fast. Nevertheless, until the coming 
in of the Lombards, old Italy being under the 
dominion of neither emperors nor Kings, the bishops 
assumed no more power than what was due to their 
doctrine and manners; in civil affairs they were 
subject to the civil power. But Theodoric, King 
of the Goths, fixing his seat at Ravenna, was that 
which advanced their interests, and made them 
more considerable in Italy, for there being no other 
prince left in Rome, the Romans were forced for 

145 



146 The Papacy Doomed. 

protection to pay greater allegiance to the Pope. 
And yet their authority at that time advanced no 
further than to obtain the preference before the 
church of Ravenna. But the Lombards, having in- 
vaded, and reduced Italy into several cantons, the 
Pope took the opportunity, and began to hold up his 
head" etc. 

St. Chrysostom, in one of his homilies on this 
passage, speaking of what hindered the revelation 
of Antichrist, asserts that " when the Roman empire 
shall be taken out of the way, then he shall come ; 
for so long as the dread of this empire shall remain, 
no one shall quickly be substituted ; but when this 
shall be dissolved, he shall seize on the vacant 
empire, and shall endeavor to assume the power 
both of God and men." And none can deny that 
this is exactly what the Romish Antichrist has 
done. 

" And then," says Paul, " shall that Wicked be 
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the 
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the 
brightness of his coming." " The man of sin, and 
son of perdition" is here called " that Wicked," to 
still further emphasize the singular wickedness of 
the papacy. Paul seems almost in a hurry to as- 
sure christians that Antichrist shall be destroyed. 
This is good news ! " By the spirit of his mouth" 
is meant his word, or by the Gospel. As popery is 
" to be destroyed" by the truth, Protestant Christians, 
and all the friends of Christ, are bound to bring 
truth to bear, in every possible way, for the destruc- 



Important Testimonies. 147 

tion of this great enemy of God and man. " The 
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spirit- 
ual, and mighty through God to the pulling down 
of strongholds." The apostle John said, — " Already 
are there many antichrists/' for every false teacher, 
and every false doctrine is an antichrist ; but from 
the book of Daniel to the end of the Bible one par- 
ticular system of iniquity is spoken of as the Anti- 
christ, " the man of sin," " the Wicked," etc. 

As early as the year 1120, a treatise was published 
concerning Antichrist, wherein christians are ad- 
monished that " the great Antichrist was long ago 
come ; in vain was he still expected, he was now by 
the permission of God advanced in years ;" and the 
author having described the corrupt state of the 
church at that time, says : " This state of men is 
Antichrist, the whole of Babylon, the fourth beast 
of Daniel, to wit, that " man of sin and son of 
perdition" who is exalted above every God, so that 
he sitteth in the temple of God, that is, the church, 
showing himself that he is God ; who is now come 
with all kinds of seductions and lies in those who 
perish." The Waldenses and the Albigenses de- 
clared it as a matter undoubted by them that the 
Pope was Antichrist. This was indeed the general 
doctrine of the first reformers everywhere. In Eng- 
land it was advanced by Wickliffe, and was 
learnedly established by that great and able cham- 
pion of the Reformation, Bishop Jewel, in his 
" Apology and Defense," and more largely in his 
Exposition of the two Epistles of Paul to the Thes- 



148 Satan' s Masterpiece, 

salonians. This doctrine was largely instrumental 
in bringing on the Reformation. Of course this 
greatly excited the indignation of the Hierarchy of 
Rome, so that in the last Lateran Council, in 1120, 
the Pope gave strict orders to all preachers, that no 
man should presume to speak of the coming of 
Antichrist. The King of France also, with the 
advice of his Council, forbade any one to speak of 
the Pope as Antichrist. It is said the Devil does 
not like to be called black. 

Paul says of " that Wicked " : " Whose coming is 
after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, 
and lying wonders." That is, the wicked system 
here referred to was not originated by God ; that is 
impossible, of course, nor by man ; but by " Satan," 
or the Devil. The things here declared are literally 
true of the Romish system. Its coming was in 
accordance with the spirit and character and pur- 
poses of Satan. Away back in the garden of Eden, 
when Adam sinned, God said that the " serpent," or 
the Devil, would antagonize the promised Saviour, 
Christ, and would " bruise his heel." In the prose- 
cution of this work, Satan's chief agency is the 
Church of Rome. Popery is the Devil's masterpiece. 
It is the same " subtle " serpent who said to our 
mother Eve, " Hath God said ? But I say that if ye 
do what I tell you ye shall be as gods. I am God's 
interpreter, and you can only understand God as he 
speaks through me." Have we not already seen 
" the working of Satan," in the vile characters to the 
popes — cunning, haughty, covetous, full of worldly 



After the Working of Satan. 149 

ambition, cruel, persecuting, bloodthirsty, beastly, 
and yet pretending to be God's infallible interpreters 
and the true friends of humanity ? 

While it is certain that the whole system of the 
Papacy is the work of Satan, we will speak here of 
two or three things in the Church of Rome that 
most clearly show Satanic cunning and purpose. 
We have already spoken of Rome's hatred of the 
Bible, and her efforts to withhold it from the people. 
As the Bible is God's revelation to mankind, in- 
tended to make known to them the only way to life 
and salvation, and as it is God's infallible chart, to 
guide mortals safely across the trackless and treach- 
erous sea of life to the haven of eternal bliss ; for 
any system, or body of men, to deliberately rob men 
of this holy Book, is to show plainly that they re- 
ceive their inspiration from the devil, inasmuch as 
they insult the Almighty, and ruin the souls of men. 

We will present as an illustration of the blessed 
effects of Bible reading, and why Rome so dreads 
the Bible, the experience of Father Chiniquy, as 
related in his most interesting and instructive book, 
entitled, " Fifty Years in the Church of Rome." He 
says: " My father, Charles Chiniquy, born in Que- 
bec, had studied in the Theological Seminary of that 
city to prepare himself for the priesthood. But a 
few days before making his vows, having been the 
witness of a great iniquity in the high quarters of 
the Church, he changed his mind, studied law, and 
became a notary. 

" Before leaving the Seminary of Quebec, my father 



150 The Little Papist and His Bible. 

had received from one of the superiors, as a token 
of his esteem, a beautiful French and Latin Bible. 
That Bible was the first book, after the A, B, C, in 
which I was taught to read. My mother selected 
the chapters which she considered the most interest- 
ing for me, and I read them every day with the 
greatest attention and pleasure. I was even so much 
pleased with several chapters that I read them over 
and over again, till I knew them by heart. 

" When eight or nine years of age, I had learned 
by heart the history of creation and the fall of man ; 
the deluge ; the sacrifice of Isaac ; the history of 
Moses ; the plagues of Egypt ; the sublime hymn of 
Moses after crossing the Red Sea; the history of 
Samson, etc. One day while I was reading the his- 
tory of the sufferings of the Saviour, my young heart 
was so impressed that I could hardly enunciate the 
words, and my voice trembled. My mother, perceiv- 
ing my emotion, tried to say something on the love 
of Jesus for us ; but she could not utter a word — her 
voice was suffocated by her sobs. She leaned her 
head on my forehead, and I felt two streams of tears 
falling from her eyes on my cheeks. I could not 
contain myself any longer, I wept also, and my tears 
were mixed with hers. The holy book fell from my 
hands, and I threw myself into my dear mother's 
arms. 

" No human words can express what was felt in 
her soul or mine in that most blessed hour ! No ! I 
will never forget that solemn hour, when my 
mother's heart was perfectly blended with mine at 



Two Souls Born Again. 151 

the feet of our dying Saviour. There was a real 
perfume from heaven in those, my mother's tears, 
which were flowing on me. It seemed then, as it 
seems to me now, that there was a celestial harmony 
in the sound of her voice, and in her sobs. Though 
more than half a century has passed since that 
solemn hour, when Jesus revealed to me for the first 
time something of his suffering and of his love, my 
heart leaps with joy every time I think of it. 

" We were some distance from the Church, and the 
roads, in the rainy days, were very bad. On the 
Sabbath days, the neighboring farmers, unable to 
go to church, were accustomed to gather at our 
house in the evening. Then my parents used to put 
me upon a large table in the midst of the assembly, 
and I delivered to those good people the most beau- 
tiful parts of the Old and New Testaments. The 
breathless attention, the applause of the guests, and 
— may I tell it ? — often the tears of joy which my 
mother tried in vain to conceal, supported my 
strength, and gave me the courage I wanted, to 
speak, when so young, before so many people. When 
my parents saw I was getting weary, my mother, 
who had a fine voice, sang some of the French 
hymns with which her memory was filled. 

" On one of the beautiful spring days of 1818, my 
father was writing in his office, and my mother was 
working with her needle, singing one of her favorite 
hymns, and I was at the door, playing, and talking 
to a fine robin that I had so perfectly tamed that he 
followed me wherever I went. All of a sudden I 



152 The Unwelcome Priest. 

saw the priest coming near the gate. The sight 
of him sent a thrill of uneasiness through my whole 
frame. It was his first visit to our home. The 
priest was a person below the common stature, and 
had an unpleasant appearance — his shoulders were 
large, and he was very corpulent ; his hair was long 
and uncombed, and his double chin seemed to groan 
under the weight of his flabby cheeks. I hastily 
ran to the door, and whispered to my parents, ' Mr. 
Curate is coming.' The last word was hardly out 
of my lips when the Rev. Mr. Curtois was at the 
door, and my father shaking hands with him, gave 
him a welcome. 

" That priest was born in France, where he had 
a narrow escape, having been condemned to death 
under the bloody administration of Robespierre. 
He had found a refuge with many other French 
priests in England, whence he came to Quebec, and 
the bishop of that place had given him the charge 
of the parish of Murray Bay. His conversation was 
animated and interesting during the first quarter 
of an hour, when of a sudden his countenance 
changed, as if a dark cloud had come over his mind, 
and he stopped talking. My parents had kept 
themselves on a respectful reserve with the priest. 
They seemed to have no other mind than to listen 
to him. The silence which followed was exceed- 
ingly unpleasant for all the parties. It looked like 
the heavy hour that precedes a storm. At length 
the priest, addressing my father, said, ' Mr. Chini- 
quy, is it true that you and your child read the 
Bible?' 



The Impertinent Curate. 153 

" ' Yes, sir/ was the quick reply, ' my little boy 
and I read the Bible, and what is still better, he has 
learned by heart a great many of its most inter- 
esting chapters. If you will allow it, Mr. Curate, he 
will give you some of them/ 

" ' I did not come for that purpose ; ' abrubtly 
replied the priest, but do you not know that you are 
forbidden by the holy Council of Trent, to read the 
Bible in French?' 

" 'It makes very little difference to me whether I 
read the Bible in French, Greek, or Latin/ answered 
my father, ' for I understand these languages equally 
well; 

"' But are you ignorant of the fact that you can- 
not allow your child to read the Bible?' replied the 
priest. 

" ' My wife directs her own child in the reading 
of the Bible, and I cannot see that we commit any 
sin in continuing to do in future what we have 
done till now in that matter.' 

" ' Mr. Chiniquy/ rejoined the priest, l you have 
gone through a whole course of theology ; you know 
the duties of a curate ; you know it is my painful 
duty to come here, get the Bible from you, and 
bum it.' 

" My father was a fearless Spanish sailor, and there 
was too much Spanish blood and pride in him to 
hear such a sentence in his own house with pa- 
tience. Quick as lightning he was on his feet. I 
pressed myself, trembling close to my mother, who 
trembled also. 

" At first I feared lest some very unfortunate, and 



154 One Papist Wlio Was Not a Slave. 

violent scene should occur, for my father's anger at 
that moment was really terrible. Fortunately, my 
father had subdued himself after the first moment 
of his anger. He was pacing the floor with a 
double-quick step ; his lips were pale and trembling, 
and he was muttering between his teeth words that 
were unintelligible to any of us. 

" The priest was closely watching all my father's 
movements ; his hands were convulsively pressing 
his heavy cane, and his face was giving evidence 
of a too well-grounded terror. It was clear that the 
ambassador of Rome was not infallibly sure of his 
position, on the ground he had so foolishly taken, 
and since his last words he had remained as 
silent as a tomb. 

"At last, after having paced the room for a consid- 
erable time, my father suddenly stopped before the 
priest, and said, 'Sir, is that all you have to say 
here ? ' 

" ' Yes, sir/ said the trembling priest. 

"'Well, sir/ added my father, 'you know the 
door by which you entered my house ; please take 
the same door and go away quickly.' The priest 
went out immediately. I felt an inexpressible joy 
when I found that my Bible was safe. 

"Thou knowest, God, that it is to that Bible, read 
on my mother's knees, I owe, by thy infinite mercj% 
the knowledge of the truth to-day ; that Bible 
had sent to my young heart and intelligence, rays 
of light which all the sophisms, and dark errors 
of Rome could never completely extinguish." 



Papish Darkness vs. Gospel Light. 155 

It was the Bible, taken into Chiniquy's heart and 
mind in childhood, that lighted him through all 
the dark mazes of Romish error, and lies and super- 
stition, and out at last into " the glorious liberty 
of the children of God." And this is why Rome 
hates the Bible ; it gives too much light, and the 
wicked " love darkness rather than light, because 
their deeds are evil." Surely Rome's hostility to the 
Bible is "after the working of Satan." Satan well 
knows that there cannot be a Christian Church 
without a free Bible. There may be, and there is, a 
Church of the Pope ; but there cannot be a Church 
of Christ. 

The worship of images is undoubtedly " after the 
working of Satan ;" for this arch adversary of God 
well knew that no greater insult could be offered 
the Almighty than to trample under foot his holy 
law against graven images; and he well knew 
that to induce men to worship pictures and images 
under pretense of worshipping their Maker, would 
most effectually tend to banish real worship, and 
spiritual religion from the earth. 

In considering the origin of image wuisnip in 
the Romish Church we can scarcely do better than 
to quote the historian, Gibbon, and his testimony is, 
perhaps, all the more valuable, because he was not 
friendly to Christianity. He says : " The primitive 
christians were possessed of an unconquerable re- 
pugnance to the use and abuse of images. . . . The 
Mosaic law had severely proscribed all representa- 
tions of the Deity, and that precept was firmly 



156 Origin of the Image Worship, 

established in the principles and practice of the 
chosen people. The wit of the Christian apologists 
was directed against the foolish idolaters who had 
bowed before the workmanship of their own hands : 
the images of brass and marble ; which, had they 
been endowed with sense and motion, should have 
started rather from the pedestal to adore the creative 
powers of the artist. The public religion of the 
christians was uniformly simple and spiritual, and 
the first notice of the use of pictures is in the sen- 
sure of the Council of Illiberis, three hundred years 
after the Christian era. 

" Under the successors of Constantine, in the 
grace and luxury of the triumphant church, the 
more prudent bishops condescended to indulge a 
visible superstition, for the benefit of the multitude, 
and after the ruin of paganism, they were no longer 
restrained by the apprehension of an odious paral- 
lel. The first introduction of a symbolic worship 
was in the veneration of the cross, and of relics. 
The saints and martyrs, whose intercession was 
implored, were seated on the right hand of God ; 
but the gracious, and often supernatural favors, 
which in the popular belief were showered round 
their tombs, conveyed an unquestionable sanction 
of the devout pilgrims who visited, and traveled, 
and kissed their lifeless remains, the memorials of 
their merits and sufferings. But a memorial more 
interesting than the skull, or sandals of a departed 
worthy, is a faithful copy of his person and features, 
delineated by the arts of sculpture or painting. At 



Images Become Idols. 157 

first the experiment was made with caution and 
scruple, and the venerable pictures were discreetly 
allowed to instruct the ignorant, to awaken the 
cold, and to gratify the prejudices of the heathen 
prosylites. By a slow, but inevitable progression, 
the honors of the original were conveyed to the copy, the 
devout christian prayed before the image of a 
saint, and pagan rites of genuflexions, luminaries, 
and incense, again stole into the Catholic Church." 

Even in the time of Gregory, while he permitted 
the use of images to instruct the ignorant, and as 
helps to the memory, he commanded that they 
should not be worshipped in any way whatever. 
This permission of Gregory was a dangerous pre- 
cedent, for by and by the most absurd stories 
began to be circulated in regard to the marvelous 
prodigies, and miraculous cures effected by the pres- 
ence, or the contact of these wonderful images. 
These images became idols, and the ignorant multi- 
tude reverently kissed them, and bowed themselves 
down to them, and by the commencement of the 
eighth century a system of idol worship had sprung 
up all over the nominally christian world, scarcely 
less debasing than that which exists to-day in Italy, 
and other popish countries of Europe. In the year 
713, Pope Constantine issued an edict in which he 
pronounced those accursed " who deny that vener- 
ation to the holy images, which is appointed by the 
church." 

In the year 726 began that famous controversy 
between the Pope and the Emperor in regard to the 



158 Emperor Opposes Idolatry. 

worship of images. Gibbon says : " In the begin- 
ning of the eighth century the Greeks were awakened 
by the apprehension that under the mark of Chris- 
tianity they had restored the (Pagan) religion of 
their fathers. They heard with grief and impa- 
tience the name of idolators ; the incessant charge 
of the Jews and Mahometans, who derived from the 
Law and the Koran an immortal hatred to graven 
images, and all the relative worship." 

The Emperor, Leo III., alarmed at the prevalence 
of image worship, determined to put a stop to it, 
and to restore christian worship to its primitive 
purity. Bower, in his " History of the Popes," tells 
us that Leo issued an edict forbidding any worship 
to be offered to images ; but without ordering them 
to be destroyed, or removed. This edict produced 
the most startling effects. Rebellions broke out in 
all quarters. In the prosecution of his laudable 
work the Emperor was met by the most determined 
opposition, led by the Pope, Gregory II., and Ger- 
manus, the bishop of Constantinople. The Emperor 
then removed Germanus from his bishopric, put- 
ting Anastasius in his place. The new bishop hated 
idolatry as much as Leo, and zealously assisted his 
monarch in his efforts to secure its extirmination 
from the so-called Christian church. 

On one occasion the Emperor ordered an image 
of the Saviour to be removed from a porch of the 
palace, and some females that were present entreated 
that it might be allowed to remain, but without 
effect. An officer mounted a ladder, and with an 



Insulting Letter of the Pope. 159 

axe struck several blows at the image, when the 
women threw him down, and murdered him on the 
spot. The image, however, was removed and burnt, 
and a plain cross set up in its place. The women 
then proceeded to insult Anastasius for encouraging 
the profanation. An insurrection ensued, and in 
order to quell it the Emperor caused several persons 
to be put to death. 

Pope Gregory II., showing himself to be a zealous 
servant of Satan, rather than the "Vicar of Jesus 
Christ/' having written a threatening letter to Anas- 
tasius, the bishop, now writes a most insulting letter 
to Emperor Leo. As this letter clearly indicates the 
spirit of the man, and is unique in its way, we will 
present it here, or at least a part of it. " During ten 
pure and fortunate years/' says the Pope, " we have 
tasted the annual comfort of your royal letters, sub- 
scribed in purple ink, with your own hand, the 
sacred pledges of your attachment to the orthodox 
creed of your fathers. How deplorable is the change ! 
How tremendous the scandal ! You now accuse the 
Catholics of idolatry, and by the accusation you 
betray your own impiety and ignorance. To this 
ignorance we are compelled to adapt our style and 
arguments. The first elements of holy letters are 
sufficient for your confusion, and were you to enter 
a grammar school, and avow yourself the enemy of 
our worship, the simple and pious children would 
be provoked to throw their horn books at your head. 

" You assault us/' says the Holy Pope, " tyrant, 
with a carnal and military hand; unarmed and 



160 Popes Favor Idolatry. 

naked we can only implore the Christ, the prince of 
the heavenly host, that he will send unto you a. 
devil, for the destruction of your body and the sal- 
vation of your soul." And more of the same sort. 
This disgraceful contest was continued for more 
than fifty years, a succession of popes taking a posi- 
tive stand against God's holy word and in favor of 
image-worshipping idolatry. In 754, during the 
pontificate of Stephen II., the Emperor, Constan- 
tine V., who had succeeded his father, Leo III., 
convened a council at Hiera, opposite to Constanti- 
nople, consisting of 338 bishops, the largest number 
that had ever yet assembled in one general council. 
This numerous body of bishops, with one voice 
condemned the use and worship of images as a cus- 
tom borrowed from idolatrous nations, and entirely 
contrary to the purer ages of the Church. On the 
nature of the heresy they express themselves in the 
following language : " Jesus Christ hath delivered 
us from idolatry, and hath taught us to adore him 
in spirit and in truth. But the devil, not being able 
to endure the beauty of the Church, hath insensibly 
brought back idolatry, under the appearance of 
Christianity, persuading men to worship the creature 
and to take for God a work to which they gave the 
name of Jesus Christ." This great council also de- 
clared that " NO IMAGES ARE TO BE WORSHIPPED. 

That to worship them or any other creature, is rob- 
bing God of the honor that is due to Him alone, 
and relapsing into idolatry." And so say all true 
Christians. 



338 Bishops Declare Against Idolatry. 161 

It must be borne in mind, just here, that Paul 
speaks of " that Wicked/' whose coming is " after, or 
according to the working of Satan," and here is an 
assembly of 338 bishops of the Church, solemnly 
declaring that " The devil, not being able to endure 
the beauty of the Church, hath insensibly brought 
back idolatry ;" clearly proving that the Church of 
Rome is " the man of sin, the son of perdition, whose 
coming is after the working of Satan." And this 
will be still more fully proved if we state a few 
facts in regard to an infamous woman, whom the 
historians inform us was the principal agent in 
establishing the worship of images throughout the 
empire. That woman was the Empress Irene. 

Upon the death of Emperor Constantine V., in 
the year 775, he was succeeded by his son, Leo IV., 
who adopted the sentiments of his father and grand- 
father, and imitated their zeal in the extirpation of 
idolatry out of the Christian Church. The wife of 
Leo was this Irene, of whom we have spoken, a 
woman who has rendered her name infamous in the 
annals of crime. In 780, her husband, who had 
opposed her attempts to introduce the worship of 
images into the very palace, suddenly died, as was 
supposed, in consequence of poison administered 
by the direction of his heartless and wicked queen. 
Her husband being dead, her youthful son became 
Emperor by the name of Constantine VI. 

Inspired by a desire to occupy the throne herself, 
she caused him to be arrested and his eyes to be 
put out, to render him incapable of reigning, which, 



162 The Empress Murders Her Son. 

according to the testimony of Theophanes, was 
done with so much cruelty that he immediately 
expired. Gibbon doubts whether immediate death 
was the result; but he describes in vivid lan- 
guage the horrid cruelty of the unnatural mother. 
He says : " In the mind of Irene, ambition had 
stifled every sentiment of humanity and nature, 
and it was decreed in her bloody council that 
Constantine should be rendered incapable of the 
throne ; her emissaries assaulted the sleeping prince, 
and stabbed their daggers with such violence into 
his eyes, as if they meant to execute a mortal sen- 
tence. The most bigoted orthodoxy has justly exe- 
crated the unnatural mother, who may not easily 
be paralleled in the history of crimes." 

Such was the cruel and odious character of this 
Empress Irene, who eventually succeeded in estab- 
lishing image worship throughout the empire, and 
yet in consequence of this service which she rend- 
ered to idolatry, popish writers represent her as a 
pattern of piety, and even justify the horrible tor- 
tures and death which she inflicted on her son. 
The following are the words of Cardinal Baronius 
justifying this cruel and unnatural crime. " Snares," 
says he, " were laid this year for the Emperor Con- 
stantine, by his mother Irene, which he fell into the 
year following, and was deprived at the same time 
of his eyes and of his life. An execrable crime 
indeed, had she not been prompted to it by zeal for 
justice. On that consideration she even deserved to be 
commended for what she didP (/ /) Again, Baronius 



A Cardinal Justifies Murder. 163 

says : " As Irene was supposed to have done what 
she did" — that is, tortured and murdered her own 
son — " for the sake of the (Roman Catholic) religion, 
and love of justice, she was still thought by men of 
great sanctity, worthy of praise and commendation." 

This extract from a popish Cardinal, and one of 
the most celebrated writers of that communion, 
needs no comment. Well might Paul say of this 
system of wickedness and blasphemy, " Whose com- 
ing is after the working of Satan." 

In 784 this wicked woman sent word to Pope 
Adrian informing him of her intention to convene 
a council in support of image worship, and Adrian 
in his reply expressed his great joy at the prospect 
of the restoration of the holy images to their place 
in the churches from which they had so long been 
banished. This famous council was assembled at 
Nice in 787. The number of bishops present and 
taking part in this council was 350, and the result 
of their deliberations was, as might have been 
expected, in favor of idolatry. It was decreed — 
according to the Romish historian, Platina — that 
holy images of the cross should be consecrated, and 
put on the sacred vessels and vestments, and on 
walls and boards, in private and in public ways. 
And especially, that there should be erected images 
of the Lord God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, of our 
blessed Lady, the mother of God, of the venerable 
angels and of all the saints. And that whosoever 
should presume to think or teach otherwise, or to 
throw away any painted books, or the figure of the 



164 "Damnation to all Heretics" 

cross, or any image or picture, or any genuine relics 
of the martyrs, they should, if bishops or clergymen, 
be deposed, or if monks or laymen, be excommuni- 
cated. They then pronounced anathemas against 
all who should apply what the scriptures say against 
idols to the holy images, or call them idols, or wil- 
fully communicate with those who rejected and 
despised them, adding, according to custom, "Long 
live Constantine and Irene, his mother — damnation 
to all heretics — damnation to the council that roared 
against venerable images — the Holy Trinity hath 
deposed them." 

This was the system of popish idolatry estab- 
lished by law by the so-called " holy council of 
Nice," in direct opposition to the solemn and posi- 
tive command of God. " Tell us not/' says Isaac 
Taylor, in his " Ancient Christianity" — " tell us not 
of the few who may possibly steer clear of the fatal 
errors, and avoid a gross idolatry, while admitting 
such practices. What will be their effect on the 
multitude ? The actual condition of the mass of 
the people in all countries where popery has been 
unchecked, gives us a sufficient answer to this 
question ; nor do we scruple to condemn these prac- 
tices as ' abominable idolatries.' Tell us not how 
Fenelon or Pascal might extricate themselves from 
this idolatry ; what are the frequenters of churches 
in Naples and Madrid? nothing better than the 
grossest polytheists, and far less rationally religious 
than were their ancestors of the times of Numa 
and Pythagoras." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Popery as a Powerful System. 

Paul predicted that the coming of Antichrist 
would be " after the working of Satan with all power, 
and signs, and lying words." Let us consider 
the tremendous power of the Papacy, and the 
manner in which this power has been exercised. 
The wicked system predicted by the Apostle was 
not to be a feeble thing; but the Little Horn, as 
indicated by Daniel, was to become a thing of tre- 
mendous energy. Before the power of the papacy, 
nations have trembled, and mighty kings and 
emperors have turned pale. The Pope claims power. 
He claims it as his right to rule the world. Our 
adorable Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he was 
about to leave the world, said : " All power is com- 
mitted unto me, in heaven, and on earth." The 
Pope of Rome steps in front of the Son of God, and 
says : " All power is committed unto Me, in heaven, 
and earth, and hell" Christ said to his apostles : 
" Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every 
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned" The 
Pope of Rome says : " You must believe in my infal- 
libility ; you must belong to my church ; you must 
confess your sins, even your most secret sins, to my 
priest ; you must make use of holy water ; you must 
abstain from eating meat on Fridays, and during 
Lent ; you must give your money to the church ; 

165 



166 The Easy Yoke of Christ. 

you must pay for masses to get your departed 
friends out of purgatory ; you must obey me in all 
things, as if I were God ; you must attend mass ; 
you must pray to the Virgin Mary, and the saints ; 
you must venerate rags, bones, and old iron, when 
they are declared by my priests to be relics of 
saints ; in a word you must strictly obey the church ; 
and when you come to die you must have my priest 
rub a little olive oil on your nose, and on your 
tongue, and on your eyes, and on your ears ; and he 
that doeth these things shall be saved, — that is, 
after spending some time in purgatory ; and the 
length of time will depend on the ability of your 
friends to pay the priests for masses to get you out — 
and he that doeth them not shall be damned." 

In this statement there is not the least exaggera- 
tion or misstatement. Here the true Christ makes 
the way of salvation simple, and easy ; while the 
false Christ, the Pope, who is Antichrist, makes the 
way of salvation impossible. Not only does the Pope 
claim absolute power ; but for centuries he actually 
exercised it, as we have seen. Had the Pope, in 
claiming to rule this world as the authorized and 
infallible vice-gerent of the Almighty, ruled in a 
Godlike way, as God rules ; had his power been 
exerted in a way to promote the true welfare of 
mankind ; had he always sought by just laws, and 
wise, and gentle, and merciful methods, to carry 
sunshine and gladness into all hearts, and into all 
homes ; and to unite society in bonds of mutual 
confidence and affection, and so to present God's 



What Might Have Been. 167 

glorious gospel truths to the hearts of men as to 
constrain them to the acceptance of the truth of 
God that makes men free ; then he would have 
endeared himself to all the good, and whether men 
acknowledged his infallibility or not, the peace, and 
contentment, and freedom, and prosperity of the 
world would have been his high endorsement, and 
the substantial proof that a Godlike Pope was not a 
bad thing for our sin-cursed world. 

And what a splendid opportunity the Romish 
Church had had to bless the world and to lay the 
human race under everlasting obligation. For a 
thousand years previous to Luther and the Refor- 
mation, she possessed almost absolute power, bound- 
less riches, and a marvellously perfect organization. 
Emperors, and parliaments, and councils were sub- 
servient to the Pope. Had the Romish Church 
been the church of Jesus Christ, and had the popes 
been ministers of the Gospel, and had they used all 
this power and wealth for the uplifting and salva- 
tion of our guilty race, how vastly different would 
have been the condition of human society through- 
out the world to-day. 

But the Roman Catholic Church is not, and never 
was, the church of Jesus Christ. And the Popes of 
Rome received their commissions from the Devil, and 
not from God. "By their fruits ye shall know them!' 
What are the fruits of Popery? As the Western 
tornado leaves in its track confusion and destruc- 
tion, and death, so the track of popery may be 
known by the ignorance, and degradation, and sor- 



1 68 Popery Makes Infidels. 

row, and tears, and desolations, and crimes, and the 
blood of murdered millions that mark its course. 
Alas ! Alas ! Popery is the mildew, and the blight, 
and the curse of nations, and the ruin of deathless 
souls ! What has popery done for France ? — intel- 
ligent, brilliant, heroic France ! You say : " France 
is infidel to-day ; France is atheistic." But, what 
made her so ? It is popery that has degraded 
France. It is the bishops, and priests of Rome that 
have been the blight, and the curse of that great 
and illustrious nation. They pretended to be the 
exclusive representatives of Christianity. They 
were liars. But the French did not know they were 
liars. They know it now. The French believed that 
all of Christianity was included in the Romish 
Church. Having at last discovered that the whole 
system of popery was a system of fraud and rotten- 
ness, and her priests and bishops a mere horde 
of money-loving, licentious scoundrels, the noble 
French nation has been disgusted with the very 
name of Christianity. Poor, noble, heroic, deceived 
France ! 

Many intelligent people blame Voltaire for hav- 
ing involved Franco in infidelity and atheism. But 
who made Voltaire an atheist? Was it not the 
Romish church? If you read the biography of 
Voltaire you will see it stated that he was educated 
at the Jesuit college of Louis-le-Grand. That is 
enough ! Did any man ever come out of a Jesuit 
college a Christian f We will present two or three 
incidents in the life of Voltaire, not to excuse or 



Voltaire's Noble Conduct. 169 



justify Voltaire, but to show the influences that 
assailed him, and also that we may give an illustra- 
tion or two of the real character of the Roman 
Catholic Church. The first incident is the case of a 
Protestant book-seller of Toulouse, named Calas. 
He had three sons ; was himself sixty-eight years 
old. One of his sons became a Romanist, and a 
second hung himself in his father's house. The 
Roman Catholics declared that Calas and his son, 
Pierre, had themselves murdered the young man to 
prevent his becoming a Romanist. There was not 
the least evidence of their crime; but, in spite of 
that fact, Pierre was exiled ; the daughters were 
forcibly taken from their weeping mother, and the 
innocent father was horribly tortured by being 
broken on the wheel, where he died protesting his 
innocence. Voltaire was horrified at this shameful 
injustice and cruelty, and spent three years in efforts 
to redress this great wrong. He was so successful 
in arousing public opinion in regard to this odious 
crime, which he well knew had been instigated, or 
at least abetted, by the priests, that at last the judg- 
ment was set aside, and the ruin of the family re- 
dressed, so far as that was possible. 

La Barre, a young man of Abbeville, and another 
by the name of D'Ettallonde were accused of irrev- 
erence, and as " vehemently suspected" of having 
broken a public crucifix. La Barre was condemned 
to be tortured, beheaded and burned. D'Ettallonde 
was sentenced to have his tongue cut out, his hand 
struck off, and to be burned alive. La Barre was exe- 



170 Popery the Curse of Ireland. 

cuted ; the other young man fled to Voltaire, who 
sent him for protection to the King of Prussia. Vol- 
taire succeeded in exciting the horror and indig- 
nation of the French people against the cruelties 
inflicted on La Barre, but did not succeed in secur- 
ing justice for D'Ettallonde, or having the sentence 
revoked. 

Sirven was the name of a young Protestant ser- 
vant, who, having been torn away from her parents 
and shut up in a convent against her will, cast her- 
self into a well. Her father was accused of the 
crime. Condemned of contumacy, he fled to Vol- 
taire, who nobly gave him a refuge from his cruel 
persecutors. His wife died from fatigue and anguish 
during his absence. Voltaire, by his eloquence and 
influence, secured his acquittal. Bad as Voltaire 
was, surely he here stands forth as an angel of light 
and mercy in comparison with these cruel hypo- 
crites who called themselves priests of the Most 
High God ! At this hour the great incubus and 
curse of France is the Roman Catholic Church. 

Some years ago we visited Ireland, for whose peo- 
ple we have always entertained feelings of admira- 
tion and sympathy. There is not on earth, we 
believe, a more generous and warm-hearted people 
than the Irish. Their proverbial native wit proves 
them to be a people of great natural intelligence. 
Popery has been, and is, the blight and curse of 
the Emerald Isle and her generous people. No 
intelligent and observing person can be in that 
beautiful country a few days without being im- 



Alas ! Poor Erin ! 171 

pressed with this fact. In the city of Cork, and 
other cities of the Island, you can see women and 
girls on the streets covered in rags — and scarcely 
covered, for many of them are barefooted, and naked 
to the knees, with nothing on their heads, except 
once in awhile one may be seen with a little cloth 
or rag of some sort thrown over the head. Their 
wretched mud hovels are enough to make one's 
heart ache. We saw more evidences of deep, abject 
poverty in Ireland in a few days than we had seen 
even in the poorest wards of New York City during 
a residence in that city of nine years. " Landlord- 
ism " is a curse and a shame, the rich and heartless 
landlords grinding the faces of the poor ; but a far 
greater curse and shame are the lazy, deceitful, 
money-loving priests of Rome. 

We have just come across a most interesting and 
instructive letter from a Mr. Oswald Osborne, pub- 
lished in The Index, of Pawpaw, 111., from which we 
will quote a few paragraphs : " I made it a point," 
says he, " during my four months' sojourn in Ire- 
land, to hear and consider, in so far as it was possi- 
ble, every side of every argument on the condition 
of that troubled and very much misunderstood 
country. The views that I now submit to the 
readers of The Index are not the outcome of passion 
or prejudice, but the result of as calm a delibera- 
tion and as careful an investigation as most men 
can bring to bear on subjects so debateful, conten- 
tious and inflammatory Nowhere in 

the world, so far as I know, if exception be made of 



172 How the Irish are Educated. 

French Canada, has the Roman Church a firmer 
hold on the people than it has in the Irish provinces 
of Connaught, Munster and Leinster. Nowhere else, 
Quebec not excepted, does Rome hold her votaries 
in vassalage more abject, degrading and destruc- 
tive. In Connaught, where illiteracy everywhere 
spreads its dark pall ; in Kerry, Cork and Clare, 
the most unlettered of the Munster counties, and 
amongst the ignorant in all the counties of Lein- 
ster, not to mention the purely Celtic districts of 
Ulster, Romanism is certainly a mighty power. The 
priest is the peasant's chieftain — not, indeed, always 
loved, but nearly always feared. Half a century or 
more ago it was predicted that the national schools 
of Ireland would deliver the masses from the thral- 
dom and darkness of priestly oppression, but to-day 
the national schools themselves are in the grasp of 
the rapacious and jealous priesthood, one of the 
most powerful and formidable weapons of clerical 
tyranny. In every parish the priest is the manager 
of the national schools. He appoints and dismisses 
the teacher at will, and thus prostitutes w T hat Sir 
Robert Peel, its framer, designed it to be, a noble 
system of national education, to the base and bane- 
ful purposes of spiritual despotism. The higher 
education of the Irish Roman Catholic youth is 
almost entirely in the hands of the Jesuits, Chris- 
tian Brothers, and other orders, male and female, 
whose methods are too well known to call for special 
reference here. Sufficient to say that these clerical 
preceptors and preceptresses make it their first duty 



Impartial Testimony. 173 

to instill into the minds of their youthful charges 
unquestioning loyalty to pope, prelate and priest — 
a loyalty that forbids to the laity any right of inde- 
pendent thought, or independent expression of 
thought. The Irish priest is always calling out for 
union between the priest and the people, a union, 
according to his view, like that of the wolf and the 
lamb, or of the tiger and the kid. An Irish- 
American priest once stated in my hearing that the 
Irish priest was a greater obstacle to Ireland's hap- 
piness, a more positive hindrance to her prosperity, 
a more deadly enemy to her people, than that very 
much-abused individual, the Irish landlord. The 
truth of this arraignment of Ireland's priesthood by 
one of their own cloth, a gentleman high in the 
confidence of the Romanist bishops of America, I 
could not realize until I had visited Ireland myself. 
Let me here incidentally remark that the justice of 
his serious charge upon the priestly " patriots " is 
fully borne out by the report of a Roman envoy, 
the late Cardinal Persico, who, by special appoint- 
ment of the Pope, visited Ireland a few years ago 
to report on its social and religious condition. 

" There are in Ireland, with a Roman Catholic 
population of three and a quarter millions, twenty- 
five Episcopal Sees in communion with Rome. The 
twenty-five Irish bishops, not counting auxiliaries 
and coadjutors, receive an average of £5000, or 
$25,000 a year each. True it is that they have no 
fixed salaries, but their average revenue, received 
from parochial incomes, dispensation moneys, and 



174 Ireland the Priest's Paradise. 

gifts from clergy and laity is rather above than 
below this amount. In some cases it reaches twice 
the sum named. In Belgium six millions of Roman 
Catholics are served by five bishops, paid liberal, 
but much smaller salaries by the public, yet no one 
has ever heard the Belgian bishops calling for an 
increase of salary, or the Belgian people for an in- 
crease of bishops. Oh, long suffering, poverty- 
stricken Ireland, thou art surely the prelates' para- 
dise. No wonder the priests call for union between 
priests and people. There are in Ireland about one 
thousand parish priests, and administrators of 
parishes. The average salary of these easy-going 
and well-fed gentlemen, may, at a very modest esti- 
mate indeed, be set down at one thousand pounds 
(or five thousand dollars) per annum. Lest any one 
think I exaggerate in this regard, let me mention 
that a priest in charge of a parish frequently exacts 
as high a fee as five hundred dollars for performing 
the marriage ceremony. He often gets a higher fig- 
ure, for by a well contrived priestly trick, it is made 
a matter of rivalry among the poor people as to 
which shall give the largest sum to " his reverence" 
on the occasion of a daughter's marriage. Baptisms 
and funerals are also fruitful sources of income to the 
Irish priesthood. The highest ambition of an Irish 
farmer is to have a son a priest. It not only gives 
the family a higher standing, but is a certain means 
of making the family well off in worldly goods. 

" The ' souls in purgatory ' are at all times in 
requisition to fill the priest's exchequer. . . . Sev- 



Money! Money!! Money!!! 175 

eral months of close observation confirms my belief 
that a more greedy, rapacious, selfish body of men 
cannot be found in this world of ours than the 
priesthood of Ireland. As the Irish priest is not an 
exemplar in the matter of sobriety, neither is he 
a paragon of morality. His so-called vow of celib- 
acy is often the cover for wrong doing of the 
most shameful character. Numerous instances of 
such criminality were related to me by strict and 
devout Irish Roman Catholics, but the victims of 
lecherous priests, and the friends of those victims 
feared to bring those men to justice, lest God's curse 
might fall upon them — a delusion assiduously nur- 
tured and strengthened by the priests themselves. 
The streets of Ireland's towns and villages swarm 
with beggars, while the coffers of the bishops and 
priests are bursting with ill-gotten gold. 

"The great friend and backer of the priest in every 
parish is usually the rumseller. His house is fre- 
quented, his table patronized by the priestly visitor. 
This is to be especially noticed if the rumseller hap- 
pens to have one or two pretty daughters, and the 
daughters of Erin, it must be said, are very hand- 
some : indeed, Romanism and rum go hand in hand, 
as well in Ireland as in America, to darken homes, 
destroy families, and decimate whole communities. 
I know of one village of six hundred souls, in 
the south of Ireland, with thirty-six rumselling 
establishments, and another place with three thou- 
sand people with eighty-eight. In the cities of 
Cork, Waterford, and Limerick, the number of 



176 "By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them!' 

death-dealing agencies reaches away up into the 
hundreds. Drunkenness prevails on every side and 
the priest fears to offend his friend, the saloon- 
keeper, by exposing and denouncing the nefarious 
methods of his traffic." 

Here is a horrible array of facts, which no one 
can dispute, that show in what manner the Roman 
Catholic Church exerts her tremendous "power" in 
Ireland. Instead of exercising that power for the 
temporal and eternal welfare of the people of the 
Emerald Isle, its power is used only to degrade, and 
beastialize, and crush, and ruin! Is the "power" 
thus exercised, and that produces such fruits, from 
heaven, or from hell ? Who can hesitate to answer ? 
"By their fruits ye shall know them" 

If any one thing could show clearly the character 
of the Papacy, it might be learned from the Holy 
Wells of Ireland. About forty years ago, as some 
of us older people well remember, " Kirwan's Letters 
to Archbishop Hughes," of New York, caused no 
little stir. Kirwan had been brought up in the 
Roman Catholic Church. When he became a man, 
after having been educated in the Church of Rome, 
he became convinced of the errors of popery and 
left the church, and become, as I believe, a Pres- 
byterian clergyman. In his " Letters " to Arch- 
bishop Hughes, he gives his reasons for leaving the 
Romish Church. Among the many good reasons 
for his wise course in leaving that communion 
he speaks thus : " Another thing which early made 
a deep impression on my mind, was this. On my 



The Holy Wells of Ireland. Ill 

first remembered journey to Dublin (Kirwan was 
Irish) we passed by a place, called, unless I mistake, 
St. John's Well. It is as you know one of the " Holy 
Wells " of Ireland. There was a vast crowd of poor- 
looking and diseased people around it. Some were 
praying, some shouting, many were up in the trees 
that surrounded it. All these trees were laden, in 
all their branches, with shreds of cloth of every pos- 
sible variety and color. I inquired what all this 
meant. I was told : " This is St. John's Well, and 
these people come here to get cured." But what do 
these rags mean, hanging on the trees ? I was told 
that the people who were not immediately cured, 
tied a piece of their garments on some limb of 
the trees to keep the good Saint of the Well in mind 
of their application. And, judging from the num- 
ber of pieces tied on the trees, I inferred that the 
number that went away cured were very few. I 
had previous^ read some travels in Africa, describ- 
ing some of the religious rites of the sable sons 
of that continent, and the thought that those per- 
formed around St. John's Well were just like them, 
occurred to me. I have no doubt that the rites 
witnessed in my youth are performed there yet — 
that the rags of diseased persons are now streaming 
from those trees to remind the Saint of the requests 
of those who suspended them. 

" There was always a priest present to hear con- 
fessions, and to receive the pennies of the poor pil- 
grims. And the impression made on my mind, 
even then, was that it was a piece of paganism. 



178 Very Much Like Heathenism. 

And the rites and ceremonies about this Well, I 
learn, are nothing in comparison with those per- 
formed at the Wells of St. Patrick, in the County 
Down. I will here insert an account of a festival at 
St. Patrick's Well as given by an eye witness. 

" When or how the custom which I shall describe 
originated I know not, nor is it necessary to in- 
quire ; but every midsummer eve thousands of 
Roman Catholics, many from distant parts of the 
country, resort to these celebrated holy wells to 
cleanse their souls from sin and clear their mortal 
bodies of diseases. The influx of people of different 
ranks, for some nights before the one in which, alone, 
during the whole year, these wells possess this power 
(for on all other days and nights of the year they 
rank not above common wells) is prodigious ; and 
their attendants, hordes of beggars, whose ragged 
garments, if once taken off, could not be put on 
again by the ingenuity of man, infest the streets and 
lanes, and choose their lodging in the highways and 
hedges. Having been previously informed of the 
approach of this miraculous night, and having pre- 
viously made ourselves acquainted with the locality 
of the wells, early in the evening we repaired to the 
spot. We were told we should see something quite 
new to us, and we met with what was scarcely cred- 
ible to ocular evidence. The spot on which this 
scene of superstitious folly was exhibited, was admir- 
ably adapted to heighten every attendant circum- 
stance of it; the wonderful wells, of which there 
were four, being situated in a square, or patch of 



And This Is Religion ! 179 

ground, surrounded by steep rocks, which reverber- 
ated every sound and redoubled all the confusion. 
The appearance of the square on our approach pre- 
sented a floating mass of various colored heads, and 
our ears were astonished and confused with mingled 
sounds of mirth and sorrow, of frantic, enthusiastic 
joy, and deep desponding ravings. On descending 
into the square we found ourselves in the midst of 
innumerable groups of these fanatics, running in all 
directions, confusedly in appearance, but methodi- 
cally, as we afterward found, in reality. The men 
and the women were barefooted, and the heads of 
all were bound with handkerchiefs. Some were run- 
ning in circles, some were kneeling in groups, some 
were singing in wild concert, some were jumping 
about like maniacs, at the end of an old building, 
which, we were told, was the ruins of an old chapel, 
erected with several adjacent buildings by the tute- 
lary saint of the wells, of whose talent as a mason, it 
must be confessed, they gave no very exalted opinion. 
When we had recovered from the first surprise 
which the unaccountably fantastic actions of the 
crowd had given us, we endeavored to trace the pro- 
gress of some of these deluded votaries through all 
the mazes of their mystic penance. The first object of 
all appeared to be the ascent of the steepest and most 
rugged part of the rocks, up which both men and 
women crawled their painful way on their hands 
and knees. The men's clothes were all made so as 
to accommodate their knees with all the sharpness 
of the pointed rock ; and the poor women, many of 



180 A Hard Road to Travel. 

them j^oung and beautiful, took incredible pains to 
prevent their petticoats from affording any defense 
against their torturing asperities. Covered with dust 
and perspiration and blood, they at last reached the 
summit of the rock, where, in a rude sort of chair 
hewn out of the stone, sat an old man, probably one 
of their priesthood, who seemed to be the represen- 
tative of St. Patrick, and the high priest of this 
religious frenzy. In his hat each of the penitents 
deposited a half-penny, after which he turned them 
around a certain number of times, listened to a long 
catalogue of their offenses, and dictated to them the 
penance they were to undergo or perform. Then they 
descended the rock by another path, but in the 
same manner and posture, equally careful to be cut 
by the flints and to suffer as much as possible. This 
was, perhaps, even more painful than the ascent had 
been — the suffering knees were rubbed another way 
— every step threatened a tumble, and if anything 
could have been lively there, the ridiculous attitudes 
of these descenders would have made us so. When 
they gained the foot of the hill they (most of them) 
bestowed a small donation on some miserable groups 
of supplicants who were stationed there. One beg- 
gar, a cripple, sat on the ground, at one moment 
addressing the crowd behind him, and swearing 
that all the Protestants ought to be burnt out of the 
country, and, in the same breath, begging the peni- 
tents to give him one half-penny for the love of 
'swate blessed Jasus.' The penitents now returned to 
the use of their feet, and commenced a sort of Irish 



A Shameful Spectacle. 181 

jiggish walk round several cairns or heaps of stones 
erected at different spaces : this lasted for some time. 
Suddenly they would prostrate themselves before the 
cairn and ejaculate some hasty prayers, as suddenly 
they would rise and resume their mill-horse circum- 
rotation. Their eyes were fixed ; their looks spoke 
anxiety, almost despair, and the operation of their 
faculties seemed almost suspended. Then they would 
proceed to one end of the chapel, and seemed to be- 
lieve there was virtue unknown to us heretics in one 
particular stone of the building, which every one 
was sure to touch with the right hand ; those who 
were tall did it easily ; those who were less, left no 
sort of jumping unpracticed to accomplish it. But 
the most remarkable, and no doubt the most efficient, 
of the ceremonies, were left for the last ; and surely 
nothing was ever devised by man which more forci- 
bly evinced how low our nature can descend. 

"Around the largest of the wells, which was in a 
building very much like a stable, all those who had 
performed their penances were assembled, some 
undressing, many stark naked. A certain number 
of them were admitted at a time into this holy well, 
and these men and women of every age bathed 
promiscuously without any covering. They un- 
dressed before bathing, and performed the whole 
business of the toilet afterwards in the open air, in 
the midst of the crowd, without appearing sensible 
of the observations of lookers on, perfectly regard- 
less of decency, perfectly dead to all human sensa- 
tions. This was a strange sight, but so nearly 



182 The Feast of Lunatics. 

resembling the feast of lunatics, that even the volup- 
tuary would have beheld it without any sensa- 
tions but those of disgust. The penance having ter- 
minated in this marvellous ablution, the penitents 
then adjourned to the booths and tents to drink, or 
join their friends. The air then rang with musical, 
monotonous singing, which became louder with 
every glass of whiskey, finishing in frolicsome de- 
bauch, and laying, in all probability, the founda- 
tion for future penances, and more thorough ablu- 
tions. No pen can describe all the confusion, no 
description can give a just idea of the noise and 
disorder which filled this hallowed square, this thea- 
tre of fanaticism, this temple of superstition, of 
which the rites rival all that we are told of in the 
East. The minor parts of the spectacle were filled 
up with credulous mothers, half drowning their 
poor children to cure their sore eyes, and with crip- 
ples who exhibited everything that hast yet been 
discovered in deformity, expecting to be washed 
straight, and to walk away nimble and comely. 

" The experience of years had not shaken their 
faith, and though nobody was cured, nobody went 
away doubting. Shouting, and howling, and swear- 
ing, and carousings, filled up every pause, and 
1 threw o'er this spot of earth the air of hell/ I 
was never more shocked and struck with horror ; 
and perceiving many of them intoxicated with 
religious fervor, and all potent whiskey, and warm- 
ing into violence before midnight — at which time 
the distraction was at its climax — I left this scene 



" Mad Priests of Bacchanalian Orgies.' 1 183 

of human degradation in a state of mind not easily 
to be described. The whole road from the wells to 
the neighboring town was crowded with such sup- 
pliants as preferred mortal half-pence to holy pen- 
ance. The country around was illuminated with 
watch fires; the demons of discord and fear were 
abroad in the air ; the pursuits of the world, and the 
occupations of the peaceful, appeared put a stop to 
by the performance of ceremonies disgraceful when 
applied to propitiate an all-compassionate Divinity, 
whom these religionists were taught to consider 
jealous rather than merciful. I wish it were in my 
power, without insincerity, to pay a compliment to 
the Irish Catholic clergy. On this occasion they 
were the mad priests of these Bacchanalian orgies ; 
the fomentors of fury ; the setters on to strife ; the 
mischievous ministers of the debasement of their 
people, lending their aid to plunge their credulous 
congregations in ceremonious horrors." 

Here, then, in this interesting description of these 
shameful scenes of ignorance, superstition, and in- 
decency, we have but a sample of what the Romish 
church is doing this moment all over the world, 
and there are no words in any language strong 
enough to express the disgust and contempt which 
every good man and woman ought to feel towards 
the infamous papacy that uses her great "power" to 
drag down, and degrade, and beastialize, whole com- 
munities and nations, while blasphemously pretend- 
ing to be doing this dirty work for the glory of God, 
and the salvation of souls ! 



CHAPTER IX. 

" Power" of Rome, Continued, 

What Rome has done to degrade and disgrace 
France and Ireland, she has done to degrade and 
disgrace every country where she has been able to 
exercise her deadly " power." In the time of Fer- 
dinand and Isabella, and for long after, Spain was 
one of the foremost nations of Europe. Proud, 
brave, and enterprising, her name was honored and 
feared throughout the world. But popery has been 
the bane of Spain. It has been to that great and 
enterprising nation an intellectual and moral dry 
rot, stultifying the minds, and corrupting the morals 
of her people. Rome set up her cruel and infernal 
Inquisition in Spain, and the people were terrorized 
into intellectual and moral imbecility. The people 
became cowardly, and suspicious, and sneaking and 
superstitious. The priests kept the people in ignor- 
ance, as they are doing to-day, so that even now, 
they are among the most illiterate nations of the 
earth, some eighty per cent, of her people being un- 
able to read and write. The blight of popery is felt 
by the commerce of Spain and by her manufac- 
turing industries. This blight is on her agriculture, 
and on all her business enterprizes, and on her gov- 
ernment, and laws, and institutions, so that the 
people, as a people, are ignorant, idle, and immoral. 
The very word '• Spaniard " suggests to the mind a 
dark visaged man, with murder in his eye, and a 

184 



Liberty Strangled in Spain. 185 

dagger in his hand ; for popery is cruel, and begets 
cruelty. Once and again the love of liberty that 
exists in every manly breast has in Spain found 
expression in a demand for more equitable laws, 
and when parliaments have been elected that have 
legislated in favor of human rights, and greater 
freedom for the people, instantly the iron hand of 
the tyrant of the Vatican has crushed those laws, 
and strangled Liberty in its cradle. And the infamy 
of the deed is chiefly in the fact that it has been 
done by the man who pretends to be the " Successor 
of the Apostles," in the name of God, and in the in- 
terests of religion ! 

As the Pope professes to represent the " meek and 
lowly " Saviour of mankind, it might justly have 
been expected that when he became a temporal 
ruler, his government would be the most just, and 
gentle, and blessed government on earth ; and had 
his pretensions been based on truth, instead of a lie, 
no doubt the government of the Papal States would 
have been of this character. But what are the facts ? 
Instead of governing like a saint, he ruled like a 
fiend. The government of " His Holiness " was so 
tyrannical, and brutal, that the Italians, finding it 
utterly unbearable, rose in rebellion against their 
Holy Father, after all their repeated demands for 
more equitable laws had been refused. 

It would be both interesting and instructive could 
we present in detail all the circumstances and events 
that led up to the revolution in Italy, in 1848 ; but 
we can give only the merest outline of those events. 



186 Pius IX. Becomes Pope in 18^6. 

When, in 1846, Pius IX. ascended the pontifical 
throne, there was great rejoicing throughout Italy, 
for he was universally understood to be a man of 
liberal ideas. Immediately upon his accession to 
the popedom he surprised the world by the adop- 
tion of a policy as extraordinary as it was novel for 
an occupant of the chair of Peter — a policy of politi- 
cal reform. In an article that appeared in the 
American Review, for November, 1847, and written 
by G. F. Secchi de Carali, on " Italy and Pius IX.," 
we are told that Pius IX., casting his eye over the 
eternal city, he beheld it lying before him a den 
of serpents, a desert — the people dying for want 
of food, or wandering about in poverty and anarchy; 
thousands exiled in foreign lands ; the prisons 
crowded with political offenders; the government 
held by the enemies of the people, and deaf to their 
cries. No public instruction ; no industry ; religion 
corrupted by its own ministers ; crime triumphing 
in every shape of depravity ; despotism showing its 
low and odious front at every step ; justice unattain- 
able ; the courts converted into dens of bribery and 
oppression ; the whole state reeling to its centre, and 
about to fall forever and be swallowed up. Rather 
than submit to a Pope like the one who had just 
died — Gregory XVI., — the Roman people would 
have preferred to put themselves under the domin- 
ion of Austria; but Heaven had so favored them 
that should the new Pontiff be true to himself and 
the people, they might once again, and perhaps for- 
ever, gain a footing among nations, and step for- 
ward boldly in the race of civilization. 



Pius IX. Begins Well 187 

A few days after his election, Pius suppressed the 
" military warrants/' a kind of secret tribunal for the 
seizure and condemnation of political offenders. He 
then called upon six of his cardinals to compose 
a council for deliberation on national affairs, and 
gave notice that on a certain day in each week 
he would give a personal audience to all comers 
without distinction of rank or condition. He caused 
a private letter box to be placed for himself in the 
entry of the Vatican. He dismissed his Secretary 
of State, Lambruschini, because he was not in sym- 
pathy with reformatory efforts, and put in his place 
a man who was. 

One of his most popular acts was his procla- 
mation of amnesty to all political offenders. The 
Romans were filled with joy at this new proof of 
the Pope's magnanimity, and the city and country 
were filled with mutual congratulations. A vast 
crowd assembled at the Colosseum and at the Capi- 
tol, and marched in procession with wax candles, 
and singing joyful songs, to the Monte Cavallo, 
to return thanks to their Chief and seek his bless- 
ing. The houses throughout the city were illumi- 
nated. The vast crowd marched to the Pope's 
palace, where he extended his hands and blessed 
them. 

On the morning of the next day, the Pope return- 
ing in his carriage, the horses were taken from it by 
the people, who then drew him, with rejoicing 
and songs of triumph, to the Quirinal palace. No 
Pope was ever treated with an equal degree of 



188 The Pope a Reformer. 

attention by the people. The festivals and illumi- 
nations continued for many days after the amnesty, 
both in the Roman States and in other parts of 
Italy. The joy of the Bolognese was excessive ; they 
voted a marble statue to Pius IX., and kept up the 
festivities three days and nights. The bills of 
amnesty posted on the corners of the streets were 
wreathed with flowers. Political parties through- 
out all Italy resolved themselves into the one party 
of the Pope. 

Encouraged by the gratitude and joy of his peo- 
ple, Pius gave himself to the work of reform. To 
promote industry and commerce, he advocated the 
construction of railroads, and private companies 
were authorized to lay about four hundred miles of 
rails. He granted economical, and other govern- 
mental reforms, and established new institutions for 
municipal and provincial legislation. 

The terrible police of the last Pope was discon- 
tinued, and a decree promulgated threatening 
severe punishments against criminal offenders, but 
declaring that no person should be prosecuted for 
political opinions. The employes of Gregory XVI. 
were dismissed from office, and liberal and intel- 
ligent persons put in their places. The secret 
and mysterious tribunals were abolished, and the 
judicial and penal systems of Beccari and Filan- 
gieri, which abolish capital punishment and estab- 
lish trial by jury, adopted by the compilers of 
the new code. Pius caused six thousand hired 
Swiss soldiers to be dismissed because they were 
hated by the people. 



Noble Conduct of Pius IX. 189 

The tariff on cotton and woolen goods, and the 
enormous internal duties on salt and other articles, 
were reduced. The law concerning the liberty of 
the press was so altered that the rigid censorship, 
which had so long existed, was somewhat liberal- 
ized, and the censors were to be laymen, except 
in the care of books that treated of religion and 
theology. The Jews in the Papal States, who had 
been cruelly oppressed by the last Pope, and con- 
fined to that part of the city called the Ghetto — 
a most wretched locality — were relieved from certain 
special taxes that had been imposed on them, and 
permitted to establish themselves in any part of the 
city. 

Among many interesting stories told of the Pope 
at this time, is the following : It has already been 
mentioned that the Pope gave audience to all sorts 
of people on certain days of the week to hear their 
complaints, etc. On one of these occasions a com- 
mon soldier brought to the Pope a loaf of very poor 
bread, not fit to be eaten, and said it was a fair 
sample of their daity allowance. Pius took the loaf, 
and promised the poor soldier he would give it his 
attention. The Pope soon after invited the minister 
of war to dinner, and had the soldier's loaf laid by 
his plate. The astonished officer turned pale when 
he saw it, and the Pope inquired if that was the 
kind of bread he furnished to his soldiers. After 
that Pius went through the barracks, and, having 
found some four thousand similar loaves^ he ordered 
them to be given away, imprisoned the bakers who 



190 The Tiger has a Velvet Paw. 

furnished them, degraded the minister of war from 
his office, and supplied each soldier with money 
to buy bread for himself. 

Such a wonderful change from the tyranny of 
the former popes gave the Italian people reason to 
hope that their days of adversity were over, and 
that the long hoped-for deliverance had come at 
last. It looked, indeed, as if the Ethiopian had 
changed his skin and the leopard his spots; but 
they soon found, to their great sorrow, that popery 
is irreconcilable with liberty, and is the deadly enemy 
of free institutions. Passing by the deadly hostility 
of the Austrian government and her unjust and 
tyrannical conduct in sending an army into Fer- 
rara, one of the Papal States, we are reminded that 
the position of the Pope of Rome has no parallel 
among the rulers of the civilized world. He is at 
the same time a king and a pontiff. In the former 
character he is the head of the State, while in the 
latter he is, or claims to be, the head of the Church . 
As a prince, he may alter, amend, or modify, the 
political institutions of the State over which he 
rules, while as a pope he is himself bound by the 
infallible decrees of his Church, as embodied in the 
acts, canons, and anathemas, of preceding popes and 
councils. 

Many fell into the mistake of supposing that the 
reforms begun by the Pope as a prince were a guar- 
anty of reforms sure to be inaugurated by him as a 
priest. The government of the Roman States, for a 
long time the most wretched in Europe, may be 



All a Deception. 191 



ameliorated by the adoption of a portion of those 
liberal institutions and political rights which have 
been long enjoyed by Protestant nations, while 
Popery remains the same Bible-hating, heretic- 
cursing system of bigotry, intolerance and spiritual 
despotism it ever has been. It is the boast of the 
papists that their church is infallible and unchange- 
able. All Protestants should remember this. How 
willing some Protestants are to be hoodwinked by 
the Papacy ! In November, 1847, while these 
reforms were taking place under Pius IX., a great 
meeting was held by Protestants of New York in 
the Broadway Tabernacle, for the glorification of 
the Pope, and the very next week the Freeman's 
Journal, a Roman Catholic paper, contained the 
following words in an editorial : " How widely has 
the belief spread that Pius IX. was in every sense 
of the word a liberal pope; that his political acts, 
misread by infidels and revolutionists, afforded an 
index of his ecclesiastical dispositions ; that his con- 
cessions to the spirit of the times fixed a deep gulf 
between him and the old Gregorys and Innocents 
of the Popedom ; that a new spirit was being 
breathed into the Catholic religion by the secular 
influences of the time. How widely have these 
delusive hopes spread ! How fondly have they been 
nursed and cherished ! In every country, among 
the weak, and the wicked, and the ignorant, this 
thought has made its way — that in a liberal pope 
was to be found a traitor to his own church, an 
apostle of some mad scheme of universal fusion, a 



192 Popery Never Changes. 

destroyer of the antiquated dogmas of Christianity. 
. . . . In Ireland, as elsewhere, the character of 
the Pope has been misconceived, the nature of his 
liberality mistaken. There, as elsewhere, dreams 
have been nursed of a false peace — a peace the 
characteristics of which were to be universal phil- 
anthropy, toleration, charity ; a peace to attain and 
preserve which the odiousness and exclusiveness of 
Catholicity was to be abolished forever, and not 
merely in civil laws, but in the language of its own 
claims and the forms of its own institutions it was 
to bring itself down to the miserable level of the 
sects." 

This language of the popish writer, who was no 
doubt Archbishop Hughes, was a snub to the easily 
duped and weak-kneed Protestants of the Broadway 
Tabernacle, who were so ready to lick the dust be- 
neath the feet of "His Holiness," the Pope of Rome. 

It was not long before the people of Italy learned 
from the Pope himself that all his reforms were 
instituted as a matter of policy, and to prevent a 
revolution, which would most certainly have broken 
out had he commenced his reign manifesting the 
least intention of continuing the policy of his pre- 
decessor. The volcano was about to burst forth on 
account of the cruel oppressions under which the 
people had long groaned. When the people of 
Italy saw signs of reaction on the part of the Pope, 
they demanded a constitution. After a long and 
irritating delay, and reluctantly yielding to the 
demands of the people, whose demands it was no 



Plaudits Changed to Curses. 193 

longer safe to disregard, the Pope gave them a con- 
stitution that added insult to injury, and the people 
were ready for rebellion. Their expressions of grati- 
tude and joy over the reforms he had instituted 
were exchanged for curses loud and deep when they 
discovered that they had been deceived. A quota- 
tion or two from Italian papers will show the great 
change that had taken place in the sentiments of 
his own people, the sheep of his own flock. The 
Contemporaneo, published in Rome, says : " The 
Pontiff has saved the Prince, but in doing so he has 
compromised the glory of both, and the calamity of 
Italy will be his condemnation. There remains to 
this land only God and her rights. Let our Italian 
brethren be assured they do not deceive themselves 
in relying on the people. Those are deceived who 
rely on the Pope for the redemption of Italy." 

The Courier Merchantile, published in Genoa, says : 
" We do not flatter ourselves that our words will 
reach the ears of him who has done everything to 
cast us back into the slavery of Babylon, to present 
us as a holocaust to the Austrian idol. But should 
they reach him, we would boldly say : You are not 
the vicar of God, but the vicar of the Austrian 
Emperor. You fear the schism of the Austrian 
prelates, and heed not the curse of nations. Wait 
awhile, and you will reap such fruit as you deserve. 
Poor Italy ! whither has the dominion of the Pope 
led you ! After this protest what have we to hope 
for from our Pontiff? Nothing. Mark well, 
people ! these are the terrible effects of the temporal 
dominion of the popes" 



194 A Roman Republic. 

An insurrection broke out in Rome and blood was 
shed. At length the Pope disguised himself as an 
attendant of the Bavarian Ambassador, and made 
his escape from Rome to Gaeta, where he was cor- 
dially received by that tyrannical and cruel despot, 
Ferdinand, King of Naples. A Republic was pro- 
claimed in Rome, and, while the circumstances and 
events connected with the flight of the Pope and the 
formation of a new government necessarily caused 
great excitement, the Italian people behaved them- 
selvelves admirably, so that no acts of violence were 
committed and no blood was shed. 

One of the first acts of the new government was 
the abolition of the Inquisition at Rome, which had 
been in full operation up to the time of the flight of 
the Pope. The " Palace of the Inquisition/' as that 
human slaughter-house was called, was thrown open 
to the public. The following particulars of the open- 
ing of the " Palace " are from the pen of an eye wit- 
ness of the scenes he describes, as published in the 
New York Tribune at that time : " On Sunday last 
the Palace of the Inquisition was thrown open to 
the public, after some days devoted to an inventory 
of its contents and investigations, which resulted in 
the discovery of some relics of the diabolical prac- 
tices with which this tribunal has been associated. 
Curiosity has been whetted by the accounts which 
appeared from time to time of the prisoners, bones 
and tortures, and more recently by the proclama- 
tion announcing that the building would be opened, 
which spoke of ' horrid prisons, skeletons, and instru- 
ments of torture.' 



The Palace of the Inquisition. 195 

" The people poured into it in crowds. I went with 
them, and found my way at last into a quiet garden, 
with a bubbling fountain in the centre, which 
seemed the very spot for sacred meditation; but 
around the garden was a low building with grated 
iron doors. The rough walls of the rooms within 
were covered with inscriptions, marked with a bit of 
charcoal — some ascriptions of praise, some bitter and 
complaining. In one I read, 'Let us pray to God 
that the good people may have pity! In another, ' Take 
away oppression, God! ' Too long have I been con- 
fined here at the caprice of calumniators, without admis- 
sion to the sacraments! 'How much have I suffered here P 
Here, beneath a death's head and crossbones, ' mori! 
Here, ( Scipio Gaetani — eight years have I suffered here P 
There was one short but expressive sentiment in the 
English language : ' Is this the Christian faith f In 
one prison a heavy trap door was lifted from a dark 
opening, exposing a deep, black vault. Below, in a 
corner, lay a mass of bed clothes and tattered gar- 
ments, among which I recognized a worn, dirty 
strait waistcoat, apparently intended for a female. 
In several of the rooms were pipes, through which, 
probably, food was given to the wretched inmates. 
In another part of the building a dense crowd was 
gathered around the entrance to a vault which 
seemed to pass under the whole palace. I made my 
way down the steps, and recognized by the light of 
the torches on the walls, heaps of human bones scat- 
tered on the floor. Others were protruding from the 
wall of earth at the sides, yet untouched ; and 



196 The Chamber of Horrors. 

although it was difficult to distinguish in this con- 
fused mass, sex, age^ or even the different parts of 
the body, one at least seemed to be that of a female, 
and the seventeen thigh bones which might be 
counted here and there, told the story of nine poor 
victims. 

" The excavations are yet unfinished, and it is not 
easy to conjecture how much the number may be 
increased. But even these few relics leave room for 
the darkest suspicions. How many years have 
passed since these vaults received their last victim ? 
Did he waste away slowly under torture and starva- 
tion, or did the holy fathers, more merciful than 
usual, give him the blessing of a sudden death? 
It is impossible to account for the presence of these 
relics in any supposition favorable to the holy office. 
They are found imbedded in earth, filling the brick 
arches which form the foundation of the building, 
and must therefore have been placed there since its 
construction — a fact inconsistent with the supposi- 
tion that they belong to an ancient cemetery on this 
spot, if any existed ; and it is but too clear from the 
appearance of the bones, that their possessors were 
born long after the erection of the building. Per- 
haps the unfortunate nun, who was found in her 
cell, when recent events threw open the doors of the 
palace, might tell us something that would aid in 
explaining these discoveries." 

Another reliable witness, writing from Italy, pub- 
lished in the New York Journal of Commerce, the fol- 
lowing additional particulars of the horrors dis- 



Popish Means of Grace. 197 

covered in this den of papal cruelty and abomina- 
tion. " In Turin I met the American consul of 
Rome, who had passed through the entire revolu- 
tion in the Eternal City, and who was present when 
the doors and dungeons of the Inquisition were 
opened by the decree of the Triumvirs, its prisoners 
released, and its building converted into an asylum 
for the poor. It was interesting to hear from the 
lips of an intelligent eye-witness the most ample 
confirmation of the published statements relative to 
the condition and appearance of this most iniqui- 
tous institution. The Holy Inquisition of Rome is 
situated near the Porta Cavalligeri, and under the 
very shadow of the sublime dome of St. Peter's 
Cathedral, and capable of containing three thou- 
sand prisoners. The consul was particularly struck 
with the imposing dimensions of the ' Chamber of 
Archives/ filled with voluminous documents, re- 
cords, and papers. Here were piled all the proceed- 
ings and decisions of the Holy Office from the very 
birth of the Inquisition, including the correspon- 
dence with its collateral branches in both hemis- 
pheres. Upon the third floor, over a certain door, 
was an inscription to this effect — 'Speak to the first 
inquisitor? Over another — 'Nobody enters this cham- 
ber except on pain of excommunication? They might 
as well have placed over that door, the well-remem- 
bered inscription of Dante over the gates of Tartarus 
— 'Abandon hope, all ye who enter here? That cham- 
ber was the solemn hall of judgment, or doom-room, 
where the fates of thousands have been sealed in 



198 Patriots in Despair. 

death. Over a door directly opposite, another in- 
scription read, ' Speak to the second inquisitor.' Upon 
opening the door of this department, a trap-door 
was exposed, from which the condemned, after they 
left the hall of judgment, stepped from time into 
eternity. 

" The well or pit beneath had been built in the 
ordinary cylindrical form, and was at least eighty 
feet deep, and so ingeniously provided with project- 
ing knives and cutlasses, that the bodies of the 
victims must have been dreadfully mangled in the 
descent. At the bottom of this abyss, quantities of 
hair and beds of mouldering bones remained. Not 
only at the bottom of the pit, but also in several of 
the lower chambers of the building were found 
human bones. In some places they seem to have 
been mortared into the walls. The usual instru- 
ments of torture in such establishments were like- 
wise manifest." 

Short indeed was the period during which the 
brave Italians were permitted to breathe the air of 
freedom, for the Holy Father showed his paternal 
love for his dear children so that he urged the des- 
potic Romish governments of Austria, Naples, and 
Spain to send their soldiers to murder them, if that 
should be necessary, to compel them again to wear 
the hateful fetters they had so recently, and so 
bravely, broken. 

Austrian, Neapolitan, and French troops poured 
into Rome to crush liberty, and to reinstate the 
tyrant Pope. The brave Italians, under the splendid 



Garibaldi and His Brave Italians. 199 

leadership of Garibaldi, and other able officers, 
fought them, and beat them again and again ; but 
it was hopeless for so few, however heroic, to con- 
tend against such odds, and on the first of July, 

1849, the Roman Republic, after a brief existence of 
five months, capitulated to the French, and in May, 

1850, Pius IX., after an exile of one year and six 
months, returned to Rome, prescribed the new gov- 
ernment, and re-established the Inquisition in all 
its former power, and for twenty-two weary years 
more the poor Italians were compelled to endure 
the tyrannical government of the hated Pope, whose 
throne was propped up by French bayonets. 

Can any sane man or woman believe for a moment 
that the cruel author of all these sorrows and 
miseries of his fellow creatures, can by any possibil- 
ity be the holy and infallible priest of the Lord Jesus 
Christ ? Our Saviour said, (Isa. 61) " The Spirit 
of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath 
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek : 
he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to 
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of 
the prison to them that are bound .... to comfort 
all that mourn .... to give unto them beauty for 
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment 
of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 

Does the pope of Rome do anything like this? 
What have we seen ? Have we not just passed 
through the palace of the Inquisition ? By whose 
authority were the thousands of innocent men and 
women confined in those horrible dungeons? By 



200 Christ Blesses — The Pope Curses. 

the authority of " His Holiness /" By whose author- 
ity were so many strong men, and tender and gentle 
women, tortured, and lacerated, and mutilated, and 
shamefully murdered in those dark abodes of cruelty 
and blood ? By the authority of the "Holy Father /" 
Who hurried into eternity the souls that once ani- 
mated those " heaps of human bones" we have seen, 
and whose lives went out amidst groans, and tears, 
and excruciating agonies ? It was the work of the 
Pope, w T ho is the infallible head of the " only true 
church ; out of which there is no salvation." 

How utterly unlike is the mission and work of the 
Pope to the mission and work of the Lord Jesus, 
whose holy Vicar the Pope claims to be ! The Lord 
Jesus came " to preach the Gospel to the poor ;" the 
Pope came to withhold the Gospel from the poor, 
and burning, and drowning, and beheading those 
poor people who dare to have the Gospel in their 
houses. The Lord Jesus " came to bind up the 
broken-hearted." The Pope comes to cause men, 
and women, and children to be broken-hearted. 0, 
what millions of people have been broken-hearted 
through the tyranny of the Popes of Rome ! The 
Lord Jesus came " preaching deliverance to the cap- 
tives;" the Pope comes crowding horrid and filthy 
dungeons with multitudes of captives. The Lord 
Jesus came " to comfort all that mourn ;" the Pope 
comforts nobody, and fills hearts, and homes, and 
communities, and nations with mourning. The 
Lord Jesus came to bless, and blessings were con- 
stantly falling from his sacred lips. "Blessed are the 



Popery is a Blight arid Malediction. 201 

meek." "Blessed are the peacemakers." "Blessed are 
the pure in heart."— "Blessed;" " Blessed;" "Blessed!" 
The Pope comes to curse. He seems never so much 
in his element as when cursing. "Anathema;" "Ana- 
thema ;" "Anathema ;" " Cursed !" " Cursed !" " Cursed !" 
The difference is that one is the true Christ, and the 
other is the Antichrist. Can anyone fail to see it ? 

This brief sketch of what the papacy has done for 
Italy, while under the direct government of the 
popes, proves that the Pope is Antichrist — the repre- 
sentative of the devil and not of God, and that 
papacy is the most deadly adversary of God and 
man, and the bitterest foe of civil and religious 
liberty throughout the world. 



CHAPTER X. 

Same Subject, Continued. 

In chapters eight and nine we have shown the 
manner in which the papacy uses her tremendous 
" power/' and so far we have not been able to dis- 
cover that she has used it for the blessing, or even 
for the benefit, of the race, or for the glory of God. 
From the facts already presented it is certain that 
Romish Popes have used their great power like 
fiends from the bottomless pit, rather than as the 
humble and gracious servants of the God of heaven. 

For ages and centuries the countries of South 
America have been entirely controlled by the Romish 
priesthood. And so has Mexico. And what has the 
papacy done for these countries ? In answering this 
question we can give but the merest outline. At the 
Baptist National Anniversary meetings, held in 
Saratoga, N. Y., in June, 1895, one of the most 
interesting addresses was on "' Mexico," by Rev. Dr. 
Morehouse, Field Secretary of the American Bap- 
tist Home Mission Soiety, who has made a special 
study of our sister Republic across the Rio Grande. 
The address made plain the past and present spirit 
of Romanism. 

In thirty years fifty Protestant Missionaries have 
been murdered, and the conflict between religious 
despotism and liberty — both civil and religious — 
is still in progress. When Cortez entered the valley 
of Mexico he found an Aztec civilization evinced by 

202 



How Rome " Converted " Mexicans. 203 

canals, agriculture, literature, and morality. Monte- 
zuma's capitol was a city of 60,000 buildings and 
300,000 people. The year of its conquest, 1521, was 
three years after Luther had nailed his theses to the 
church door of Wittenbergh, and nineteen years 
before Loyola founded the Order of Jesuits. Fol- 
lowing the conquest came the multiplication of 
Roman Catholic societies and orders — Franciscan, 
Dominicans, Capuchins, Jesuits, Carmelites, Augus- 
tinians and others — monks and nuns, chiefly from 
Spain. 

The Inquisition was formally set to work in 1571, 
in the city of Mexico, though it had really entered 
on its murderous work forty years earlier. In a few 
years Rome claims four millions of converts. There 
is marvellous persuasive power in dungeons, racks, 
thumb-screws, and blazing faggots, and so Rome 
multiplied her converts. The Inquisition, Rome's 
great and highly-prized engine for multiplying con- 
verts , was not suppressed until 1820, after 250 years 
of bloody work in the interest of " the only true 
church." 

What Prescott said of Spain was true of Mexico : 
" The genius of the people was rebuked, and their 
spirits quenched. . . . Freedom cannot go along 
with fear." The conquered and converted (/) Mexi- 
cans settled down into a night of ignorance, degener- 
ation, and degradation. Their libraries burnt by 
order of Bishop Zamarruga. Little was left of 
them. At the beginning of this century there were 
but three printing presses in the country. For these 



204 A Black Christ Sheds Tears. 

the people had little use, for the priests of Rome 
declared to the people that they needed nothing 
beyond the catechism. The priests greatly deceived 
and misled the people. They had worshipped the 
moon as the " Supreme Lady," and the sun as the 
" Supreme Lord." In 1531 there came a reputed 
revelation from the Virgin Mary, with miracles, 
declaring that she was the lady whom they had 
ignorantly worshipped before the conquest, and 
" Our Lady of Guadaloupe" is the chief object of 
worship by the millions of Mexico to this day. 

Another appeal of the Romish priests to the 
prejudices and superstition of the Mexicans was the 
invention of " the black Christ." Dr. Morehouse 
saw four of these. He says : " In the old chapel of 
Guadaloupe is a black Christ, with a crown of thorns, 
long, black, dishevelled hair, and purple robe, as he 
was supposed to appear in the judgment hall, before 
his crucifixion. Near by is the imprint, in stone, of 
the Virgin's foot. In the old Dominican church of 
Porta Corli, City of Mexico, is a black Christ on the 
cross .... where devout Indians may kiss his feet. 
Another is at Taluca, where is a large Indian popu- 
lation who worship the image, while at Satillo is a 
painting of Christ, which at times sheds tears /" 

The priestly hypocrites who have thus wantonly 
deceived, and misled, and cursed the people of 
Mexico, well know that in order to perpetuate their 
frauds and deceptions, they must keep the people in 
ignorance, and in this endeavor they have been but 
too successful. The " Cyclopedia of Education," 



Fat Priests and Starving People. 205 

edited by Henry Kiddle, superintendent of educa- 
tion of New York City (1877) in its article on Illit- 
eracy, gives a table containing the statistics of 
thirty countries, and among them is Mexico, which 
is credited with ninety -three per cent, of illiterates, which 
is forty-five per cent, greater than heathen China, 
which is credited with fifty per cent, of illiterates, 
or of people who can neither read nor write. Thus 
Mexico presents a splendid field to Romish priests 
for the cultivation of their cherished, and degrad- 
ing superstitions, and they have cultivated it to 
their own enormous profit ; for fifty years ago the 
church of Rome in Mexico owned three-fifths of the 
wealth of the city. The income of the Bishop was 
greater than that of the Queen of England. One- 
tenth of the products of the country went to the 
clergy. In 1850, the value of church property was 
estimated at three hundred millions of dollars, one- 
third the value of the nation. The annual income 
of the church in the city of Mexico was $20,000,000, 
while the income of the Republic was $18,000,000. 
This immense sum was wrung out of the hard earn- 
ings of the poor, who earned twenty-five cents a day. 
Ignorance and superstition, of course, are pro- 
ductive of immorality, and Mr. Biart states that in 
Mexico the priests are forcing the poor to live in 
concubinage by exacting from them for the mar- 
riage ceremony a sum which the Mexican laborer 
could not earn in five years, and very recent author- 
ities state that the peon, or laborer, w r ho is married 
by a priest, becomes practically a pnrt of the estate 



206 Romanism Promotes Immorality. 

for life of the landlord, who lends him the needed 
sum for marriage by the church. The immorality 
of the people in Spanish Roman Catholic countries 
is well known. In the South American states a 
great majority of the children born are illegitimate. 
In Paraguay, when the Jesuits controlled every- 
thing, only three children in a hundred were born 
in wedlock, and yet whenever the governments have 
tried to introduce civil marriages so that by law 
poor people could be married, and their children 
born in wedlock, the governments have in every 
instance been cursed and excommunicated by the 
representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. 
Even in October of last year, 1895, when the civil 
marriage law was before the Hungarian legislature, 
the bishops and priests did all in their power to 
defeat the measure, and when the bill was passed 
in spite of their fierce opposition, they commanded 
the people, even from the altars of their churches, 
to disobey the law. 

Ecuador, in South America, affords us another illus- 
tration of the wicked manner in which " the man of 
sin, and son of perdition" exercises his " power" for 
the degradation and ruin of peoples and nations. 
As a general thing the South American republics 
are governed by an oligarchy of the leading fami- 
lies. Ecuador is ruled rather by the Romish hier- 
archy. It is to all intents and purposes a papal 
colony. It is a republic only in name. The Pope 
is King. The church is omnipresent, and all pow- 
erful. The struggle for independence, under the 



Ecuaaor Ruined by Popery. 207 

leadership of the illustrious Bolivar, which lasted 
from 1809 to 1822, while it saw the downfall of 
Spanish power, did not free the people from the 
tyranny of the priests. During the series of bloody 
revolutions that have swept the country at intervals 
ever since, the clerical party has remained triumph- 
ant. Church and state are one and the same. The 
church controls the government, dictates its laws, 
and sees to their enforcement. All the schools are 
taught by the priests and nuns, and the pupils 
learn more about the saints of the church than 
about their own country. For years there has been 
on the statute books a law forbidding the importa- 
tion of books, pamphlets, or printed matter of any 
description without the approval of the priests. 
More than one-fourth of all the property is owned 
by the bishop. No religion but that of the Roman 
Catholic is tolerated. There is a Roman Catholic 
Church for every two hundred inhabitants. Ten 
per cent, of the population is composed of priests 
and nuns. It is stated that seventy-five per cent, of 
the births are illegitimate. As in Mexico, the peo- 
ple are sunk in ignorance, and their chief amuse- 
ments are cock-fights, and bull-fights, and such 
like degrading sports. 

There are neither prisons, reformatories, or hospi- 
tals outside of Guito and Guayaquil. Ecuador is at 
least two centuries behind the times. There is not 
a stage coach nor a railroad in the w T hole country. 
There are no wagons, nor even a road over which 
wagons could pass. There is but one line of tele- 



208 The Pope a Hard Master. 

graph in the whole country, and as that is but little 
used it is out of repair much of the time. Mule 
paths are the only means of travel. There is only 
one newspaper, and that is muzzled. There is no 
literature, and no mail routes except that between 
Guayaquil, on the coast, and Guito. In Ecuador a 
man is glad to get six cents a day working as a 
potter. Mill hands are paid fifteen cents a day, 
twelve cents a day as a hat-maker, while carpenters, 
shoemakers, tailors, smiths, and silk manufacturers 
receive from twenty-five to thirty cents a day. 
Popery always impoverishes the people. The brew- 
ers get fifteen cents a day. There is an air of stag- 
nation everywhere except perhaps in Guayaquil, in 
which are to be seen street cars, beer breweries, ice 
factories, and other evidences of civilization, all 
controlled, however, by foreigners, as are also the 
few banks that exist in the country. Carriers are 
paid two dollars for carrying one hundred pounds 
on their backs three hundred miles. All merchan- 
dise is transported from the seacoast to the interior 
on the backs of men, women, or mules. This is 
most laborious work, as the country is very moun- 
tainous. 

Ecuador presents a pretty good specimen of the 
finished work of the priests, and as they are doing 
their utmost to keep out of the country all Protest- 
ant ideas, and everything that is likely to produce a 
better state of things, they are, no doubt, satisfied 
with their achievements. 

We have now taken a hurried glance over many 



The United States to be Romanized. 209 

of the countries, both in Europe and America, over 
which the Roman Catholic hierarchy has exercised 
that " power," of Which Paul speaks, and we have 
seen that everywhere the results of her activity are 
ignorance, superstition, cruelty, bigotry, persecution, 
immorality, stagnation, and individual, social, and 
national degradation. And Cardinal Satolli, in one 
of his public addresses, was kind enough to say : 
" What the Church has done for other countries she 
proposes to do for this country." Exactly so ! In 
this instance, this distinguished foreign papist told 
the truth. But how do the American people like 
the suggestion ? And to make this country like the 
countries we have been considering, so far as sub- 
jection to the Pope of Rome is concerned, is the 
work to which the unscrupulous Hierarchy is bend- 
ing all its energies. The subjugation of this great 
nation to the tyrannical rule of the " Son of Perdi- 
tion," who rules in the Vatican, is the avowed pur- 
pose of this evil power. 

First of all, the popes, and especially Pius IX., and 
Leo XIIL, the present " Holy Father," have laid 
down the plan according to which all Roman Catho- 
lics in this country are to proceed, in order to de- 
stroy our American institutions. In the " Syllabus " 
of Pius the IX., of 1864, the Pope condems the fol- 
lowing things, or rather he consigns to eternal 
damnation : — 

1. All those who maintain the liberty of the 
press. 

2. All who maintain the liberty of conscience or 
of worship. 



210 Liberty Condemned. 

3. Those who contend for liberty of speech. 

4. Those who hold that Roman Pontiffs, or Coun- 
cils, have exceeded the limits of their power, and 
usurped the rights of princes (in torturing, burning, 
and otherwise murdering heretics, etc.). 

5. Those who say the Church may not employ 
force (or persecute and destroy heretics.) 

6. Those who hold that in a conflict of laws, civil 
and ecclesiastical, the civil law ought to prevail. 

7. Or those who hold that any method of instruc- 
tion of youth, solely secular, may be approved. 

8. Those who hold that marriage is not in its 
essence a sacrament. 

9. Those who hold that marriage not sacrament- 
ally contracted has a binding force. 

10.. Those who hold that any other religion than 
the Roman religion may be established by the State. 

11. Those who hold that in countries called Catho- 
lic, the free exercise of other religions may laudably 
be allowed. 

12. Those who hold that the Roman Pontiff 
ought to come to terms with progress, liberalism, 
and modern civilization. 

That we may not be thought illiberal in what we 
might be likely to say by way of comment on these 
propositions of the Pope, we will here present the 
statement of Hon. W. E. Gladstone, of England, in 
regard to them. He says : " It may appear upon 
a hasty perusal that neither the infliction of penalty 
in life, limb, liberty, or goods, on disobedient mem- 
bers of the church, nor the title to depose sover- 



Rome's Satanic Purpose. 211 

eigns and release subjects from their allegiance, with 
all its revolting consequences, has been here re- 
affirmed. In terms there is no mention of them ; but 
in the substance of the propositions, I grieve to say, 
they are beyond doubt included. For it is notorious 
that they have been declared and decreed by Rome 
— that is to say, by Popes, and Papal Councils, and 
the stringent condemnations of the Syllabus include 
all those who hold that Popes and Papal Councils 
(declared ecumenical) have transgressed the just 
limits of their power, or usurped the rights of 
princes. What have been their opinions and de- 
crees about persecution I need hardly say, and 
indeed the right to employ physical force is even 
here undisguisedly claimed." 

These propositions are diametrically opposed to 
the very letter and spirit of our American Constitu- 
tion and laws, and clearly declare that the whole 
aim of popery is to drag this nation down to a level 
with the most degraded and besotted nations of the 
earth. This purpose is worthy only of the Prince of 
Darkness. And what are the means and agencies 
by which the Papacy hopes to secure this dreadful 
result ? 

1. First by means of the Parochial Schools. 

The hatred shown to our splendid system of public 
schools by the priests, arises from the fact that the 
public schools of this country educate the young 
people away from the superstitions of Romanism. 
It has been declared over and over again by leading 
Romanists, that their church has lost at least ten 



212 Rome Relies on Her Criminals. 

millions of members by means of the public schools 
It is to prevent this loss, and to hold their people 
to the apostate church, that they are so busy in 
multiplying parochial schools. These schools, taught 
by bigoted and ignorant priests and nuns, are 
intended to raise up multitudes of young people to 
hate all that is Protestant, and all that is truly 
American. The shameful ignorance of all Roman 
Catholic countries, proves that Rome prefers no 
schools at all ; but as she is compelled to make a 
pretense of educating her people, in this country, 
her parochial schools are intended to impart as lit- 
tle education as possible, while training the young 
in the catechism, so as to make them devoted slaves 
of the Pope, and enemies to free institutions. In 
this the priests are guilty of the great sin of divid- 
ing the people of this country into two hostile camps, 
and aiming a deadly blow at the very life of the 
nation. 

2. Rome relies for success on her criminals. 

Of this there is abundant proof. So much proof 
indeed that we hardly know where to begin. A 
recent number of a prominent Italian journal, 
called El Solfeo, furnishes the following statement 
of facts. In 1870, that is just before Rome was 
made the capital of Italy, when the Pope lost his 
temporal power, there were in the city 2,469 secular 
clergy, among cardinals, bishops, prelates, and cures ; 
2,766 monks, and 2,117 nuns ; in all, 7,322 religious, 
of both sexes. The number of births reached in the 
same year to 4,378, of which 1,215 were legitimate, 



Rome a Sink of Immorality. 213 

and 3,163 illegitimate; the illegitimates therefore 
were more than 75 per cent. And all this in the 
city of Rome, the abode of "His Holiness" and 
swarming with holy bishops, and priests, and nuns. 
Nor in regard to capital crime did the pontifical 
states occupy a favorable position before they were 
annexed to Italy by Victor Emanuel. The statis- 
tics relating to the latest years of the Pope's gov- 
ernment, show that there was committed one mur- 
der in England for every 187,000 inhabitants; in 
Holland, one for every 168,000 ; in Russia, one for 
every 100,000 ; in Austria, one for every 4,113 ; in 
Naples, one for every 2,750 ; and in the states of the 
Pope, one for every 750 ! ! ! Think of it ! In Prot- 
estant England one murder for every 187,000 inhabi- 
tants, and in the papal states, under the holy gov- 
ernment of the Pope himself, a murder for every 750 
of the population ! Is the Roman Catholic Church 
the church of Christ, or of Antichrist ? An English 
paper says that the Roman Catholics in Scotland 
are less than one-twelfth of the population, yet this 
one-twelfth furnishes one-third of the criminals. 
Rome breeds murderers, and all sorts of criminals. 
It is so everywhere. 

3. Rome relies for her success on foreigners. 

The Mayor of New York, Mr. Hewitt, declared, in 
a message, that, according to the census of 1880, 
thirty-nine and a half per cent, of the people were 
foreign born, and an additional forty and a half per 
cent, were born of foreign parentage, so that more 
than 80 per cent, of the people are foreigners. 



214 Shut the Gates ! Shut the Gates ! 

There are thirty-seven nationalities, speaking eighty- 
different dialects. And the dangerous thing about 
this fact is that these foreigners are voters, and 
always cast their votes in favor of popery and 
against liberty. The priests of Rome are at the 
bottom of this dangerous immigration that is bring- 
ing to our shores millions of the ignorant and 
priest-ridden and murderous papists from Europe, 
by whose votes they hope to destroy all that is most 
glorious in American Institutions. Let Americans 
who love their country insist that Congress shall 
shut the gates against these bigoted and supersti- 
tious hordes before it is too late. 

We will let Romanists themselves tell of the de- 
grading and dangerous results of their system in our 
own country. They do not intend to denounce their 
own Church, they simply state facts, while seem- 
ingly blind to the causes that produce them. At the 
Roman Church Congress, held during the World's 
Fair, in Chicago, the niece of the Archbishop of 
Cincinnati, Miss M. T. Elder, of New Orleans, was 
brought forward as one of the speakers. In her 
address, among other things, she said : — 

" Let us tell the truth to ourselves. Our inferior 
position, and it certainly is inferior, is owing greatly, 
chiefly, almost wholly, to ourselves. The great men 
of this nation have been, are, and will continue to 
be, Protestant. I speak not of wealth, but of brain, 
of energy, of action, of heart. The great philan- 
thropists, the great orators, the great writers, think- 
ers, leaders, scientists, inventors, teachers of our 



Self Condemned. 215 



land have been Protestants. What surprises me is 
the way we have had of eulogizing ourselves — of 
talking buncombe and spread-eagle, and giving 
taffy all around. I am sorry to say that I cannot 
well join in the enlivening pastime. When I see 
how largely Catholicism is represented by the hood- 
lum element I feel in no spread-eagle mood." This 
outspoken lady certainly said some true and whole- 
some things, and yet even she did not seem to see 
that the shameful lies and superstitions of her church 
are far more likely to multiply hoodlums, than 
" great thinkers, orators, inventors/' etc. But another 
Romanist, Dr. 0. A. Brownson, in a paper written 
in 1862, on Protestantism and Infidelity, says : — 

" The worst governed cities in the Union are pre- 
cisely those in which Catholics are most influential 
in elections, and have the most to do with munici- 
pal affairs. We furnish more than our share of 
the rowdies, the drunkards, and the vicious popula- 
tion of our large cities. The majority of the grog- 
sellers in the city of New York are Catholics, and 
the portions of the city where grog-selling, drunk- 
enness, and filth most abound, are those chiefly 
inhabited by Catholics, and we rarely see the slight- 
est effort made for a reformation." And this bright 
editor of the foremost Roman Catholic periodical in 
this country, is so blinded and deceived by "the 
man of sin," that he fails to see that " rowdies, grog- 
sellers, the vicious, the drunkards, and the filthy," 
are the crop that might naturally be expected to 
grow from the seed sown ! "Can a man gather grapes 
from thorns, or figs from thistles ?" 



216 A Vile Crop from Bad Seed. 

In an article published in The Catholic Times by 
Father Elliott of New York, September, 1890, he 
says : — 

" The horrible truth is, that in many cities, big 
and little, we have something like a monopoly of 
the business of selling liquor, and in not a few, 
something equivalent to a monopoly of getting 
drunk. I hate to acknowledge it ; yet from Catholic 
domiciles, miscalled " homes," in those cities and 
towns, three-fourths of the public paupers creep 
annually to the almshouse, and more than half of 
the criminals snatched away to prison by the police, 
are, by baptism and training, members of our Church. 
Can any one deny this, or can any one deny the 
identity of nominal Catholics and pauperism ex- 
isting in our chief centres of population is owing to 
the drunkenness of Roman Catholics ? For twenty 
years the clergy of this parish have had a hard and 
unequal fight to keep the saloons from the very 
doors of the Church, because the neighborhood of 
the Roman Catholic Church is a good stand for the 
saloon business, and this is equally so in every city 
in America." 

The Catholic Times, Liverpool, April 17, 1886, said : 
" Our people, though forming less than one-third of 
the population of Liverpool, constitute nearly one- 
half of the total number of prisoners." The same 
paper of November 12, 1866, said : " Nine out of ten 
of the girls to be seen along the London Road at 
night are Catholics. There is no use in denying it." 

The Tablet, a Roman Catholic newspaper, under 



Ballots, not Bullets. 217 

date of November, 1888, published an article, in 
which the writer said : " I was astonished to find, 
when engaged in another matter, that the percent- 
age of juvenile criminals of Catholic parentage was 
out of all proportion in England, to the relative 
Catholic population. Upon looking into the matter, 
I found that we Catholics contributed more young 
criminals than any other religious denomination." 

Had such statements as are here quoted from 
Roman Catholic priests and editors been made by 
Protestants, they would have been denounced as 
" Protestant lies/' and it is remarkable that such 
authorities should " give away " their Church in 
such fashion. It really looks as if the Almighty 
himself had said, " Out of thine own mouth will I 
condemn thee, thou wicked servant ! " and had led 
them to speak and write these damaging statements. 

5. Rome relies for success in destroying the insti- 
tutions of this country on violence and bloodshed. 

This assertion will be pooh poohed by many 
Protestants who are not informed as to the real 
spirit and designs of the papacy, and by those who 
mistakenly believe that the Church of Rome has 
changed ; but those who have kept themselves well 
informed as to the doings of the Romish Antichrist 
in this country, know that Rome is getting ready to 
shed Protestant blood. 

There is no man in this country who has a more 
thorough knowledge of American papacy than 
Rev. I. L. Lansing, and his eloquent sermons and 
writings have done very much to arouse the Amer- 



218 Romanists Arming and Drilling. 

ican people to the dangers that threaten this Amer- 
ican Republic from the Tyrant of the Vatican. In 
speaking of the avowed design of the Hierarchy to 
subjugate this Protestant nation to the feet of the 
Pope, he says : " They are relying for success on mili- 
tary societies, which they are forming all over this 
country under the sanction of the priests. Do you 
want to know the names of some of them ? The 
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Irish American So- 
ciety, Knights of St. Patrick, St. Paul's Cadets, Apos- 
tles of Liberty, Knights of the Red Branch, Knights 
of St. Peter, Benevolent Sons of the Emerald Isle, 
Knights of Columbkill, the Clan-na-Gael, which has 
a horrible history in this country ; and of late they 
are relying to some extent on the Knights of Labor, 
since they gave their allegiance to Cardinal Gib- 
bons and the Pope, through Mr. Powderly. In our 
own city there are military companies composed 
exclusively of Irish Roman Catholics, and armed 
with Winchester rifles. I want to ask you if our 
militia are armed with Winchester rifles ; and if 
they are not, I want to know who gave these Win- 
chester rifles, the best arms in the military service, 
to the Irish Roman Catholics ? May I ask who 
would give Winchester rifles to Methodists and Con- 
gregationalists, if they should arm for the public 
defence ? If I were, as I am not, a member of the 
Order of United American Mechanics, I would buy 
guns, and learn how to use them, not because I 
desire to precipitate conflict, but for the precisely 
opposite reason, because I desire to make conflict 



There is Trouble Ahead. 219 



impossible by furnishing a national police who are 
not in subordination to the Pope of Rome. When 
I observe these military, and semi-military com- 
panies ; when I know that a very large propor- 
tion of the police of our great cities are of the same 
nationality, in the same ecclesiastical relation, and 
all dominated by the priests, I see in it all a fixed 
plan to precipitate a catastrophe for American lib- 
erty. 

" But you say, what does all this amount to ? I 
answer, it amounts to this, that Gregory XVI. said 
there was no place in the world where he was Pope 
so much as in America. Pius IX. uttered the same 
sentiment. Leo XIII. confidently relies upon the 
same supposition. It reminds me, friends, that in 
every other land on the globe the Roman Catholic 
hierarchy is looked upon with suspicion, and 
watched as an enemy, save in the United States, 
where it is blind-folding the people and arming the 
assassins of liberty." 

As we have seen, the Word of our God declared 
that the Antichrist's coming would be " after," or in 
accordance with the coming of Satan, with all power 
and signs and " lying wonders." We have now seen 
how Rome has used her great " power," and after 
the facts presented, no one can doubt that the 
Church of Rome is " the son of perdition," and the 
work of Satan, and not in any sense the Church 
of Christ. 



CHAPTER XI. 

" Signs and Lying Wonders." 
Paul, in the passage of Scripture already quoted, 
(2 Thess. 2 : 9) speaks of " signs and lying wonders " 
as also being marks of Antichrist, and here again 
we find these marks very prominent in the Roman 
Catholic Church. As the popes claim to be the suc- 
cessors of the Apostles, so they also claim that 
the power to work miracles is retained in the 
Roman Church. Bellarmin, and other Roman 
Catholic writers and theologians, declare that mir- 
acles are a true sign of the Church of the Papacy 
being the true Church of Christ. It is well known 
to all intelligent Protestants that the Papacy has 
always relied for support on its pretended miracles. 
Multitudes of their pretended miracles are so evi- 
dently " lying wonders," that it requires the greatest 
presumption and impudence in the priests to 
pretend that they are true miracles. In doing this, 
however, they plainly show that their Church is 
that great evil and deadly " power " so plainly 
predicted in the Word of God. 

In speaking of Rome's " lying wonders " we 
scarcely know where to begin, they are so numer- 
ous, and so different in character. Volumes might 
be written on this subject, but we must be con- 
tent with a few examples under two or three dif- 
ferent heads. 

1. Let us look at the " lying wonders " per- 
formed by means of relics. 

220 



Shameful Use of Relics. 221 

Fleury, the celebrated Romish historian, in his 
Ecclesiastical History, relates that on one occasion, 
in the year 386, St. Ambrose being about to con- 
secrate a church at Milan, was prevented by the fact 
that he had no relics of Martyrs to deposit in 
the altars, when " immediately his heart burned 
within him," as he declared, " in presage of what was 
to happen." The Historian proceeds to tell us that 
God revealed to him in a dream, the place where 
the bodies of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius were to 
be found. " Having discovered their sepulchres, 
two skeletons were discovered, of more than ordi- 
nary size, all their bones entire, a quantity of blood 
about, and their heads separated from their bodies. 
They arranged the bodies, putting every bone in its 
proper place, and they covered them with cloths 
and laid them on litters. In this manner they were 
carried towards evening, to the Basilica of St. 
Fausta, where vigils were celebrated all night. 
That day and the next, there was a great concourse 
of people, and then the old men recollected that 
" they had formerly heard the names of these mar- 
tyrs, and had read the inscriptions on their tombs." 
This is the first mention we can find of these " lying 
wonders" of the Romish Church in the line of 
relics, which at length became so numerous, and 
so profitable to " the holy church, out of which there 
is no salvation." 

In 1848, a gentleman, who signed himself 
" Kirwan," and generally understood to be a Pres- 
byterian clergyman, who had once been a Roman 



222 Kirwan to Archbishop Hughes. 

Catholic, wrote a series of " Letters to Archbishop 
Hughes of New York," in which he gave his 
reasons for not returning to the Romish Church. 
Those " Letters" aroused wide-spread interest at the 
time, both among the more intelligent Roman Cath- 
olics, as well as Protestants. In one of these " Let- 
ters" he speaks of the shameful frauds practiced on 
ignorant and superstitious Romanists by means of 
relics. As Archbishop Hughes well knew whether 
Kirwan confined himself to the exact truth or not, 
it is quite certain that Kirwan would be exceedingly 
careful not to be led into even the smallest exag- 
geration. We may therefore implicitly rely on 
Kirwan's statements. In one of his letters he says : 
— " Relics are the dead bodies and bones of saints, 
and whatever belonged to them in their mortal life." 
He says : " The clause I place in italics enables you 
to multiply them indefinitely. These relics are 
honored with inferior and relative, but not with 
divine honor. And they are honored, first, because 
they were the temples of God; secondly, because 
they are to be raised from the dead; thirdly, 
because of their miraculous power ; fourthly, be- 
cause they encourage the faithful to imitate their 
virtues. This is Challoner's account of them with 
which that of Milner agrees. 

" This doctrine of relics is intimately connected 
with that of miracles — it flows from it. The man 
who performed miracles when living, should be, 
after death, highly honored ; his bones may perform 
them after death, and as in many cases they do 



Priests in the Rag and Bone Business. 223 



perform them, their relics should be honored with 
an inferior and relative, but not with a divine 
honor. Here is the link that connects your doctrine 
of relics with your miracles. 

" Relics are matters of immense importance to 
Rome. They are to your churches what the ark of 
the covenant, and the pot of manna, and Aaron's 
rod that budded, were to the Jewish temple. Hence 
the prodigious efforts of past ages to obtain relics, 
and the enormous prices paid for them, in order to 
place them in churches, and the sleepless vigilance 
with which they have been guarded, lest they should 
be stolen for the adorning of new churches for their 
virtues. They have been more than mines of 
wealth to Holy Mother, as they have brought her 
the gold and the silver without the trouble of min- 
ing, smelting, or coining it. If a bone, or a relic of 
a saint, could be secured for a new church, the 
church was called by his name, aiid placed under 
his guardianship. This is the origin of calling 
churches after the names of saints. And these 
nations were placed under the guardianship of 
saints — as Ireland under that of St. Patrick — Scot- 
land under that of St. Andrew — England under that 
of St. George. So also were cities placed under the 
care of saints, and their relics were esteemed as 
imparting far greater security against assault, than 
cannon, walls, or bulwarks. Constantine, you know, 
defended the town of Msibis with the dead body of 
St. James, and when the Emperor Leo desired to 
secure the relics of Simon the Stylite from Antioch, 



224 Horrible Deceptions. 

for the purpose of defence, the prudent citizens 
replied, ' Our city has no walls, and we have brought 
here the holy body of Simon, that it might serve us 
in the stead of walls and bulwarks.' There is, I 
learn, an authentic list of the relics, deemed true, 
possessed and published by your church. I have 
never seen it. It must be a very curious book. In 
the absence of your catalogue, I select a few of the 
relics, greatly venerated by papists from books of 
authority that lie before me. They are almost as 
amusing as your miracles. I will omit those too 
offensive to be named, out of respect for you, my 
readers, and myself. 

" The arms, legs, fingers and toes of saints are 
greatly multiplied. There are eight arms of St. 
Matthew, three of St. John, and almost any number 
of St. Thomas a-Becket. There are in the church of 
Lateran, the ark made by Moses in the wilderness, 
the rod of Moses, and the table on which the last 
supper was instituted by our Lord. The table 
entirely is at Rome ; but there are many pieces of 
it in other places. On the altar of the Lateran are 
the heads of Peter and Paul entire ; but there are 
pieces of them in Bilboa greatly honored by 
the monks. St. Peter's church is blessed by the 
cross of the penitent thief; with the lantern of 
Judas; with the dice used in casting lots by the 
soldiers for the garments of our Saviour ; with the 
tail of Balaam's ass; and with the axe, saw, and 
hammer, of St. Joseph. Different churches are 
enriched with pieces of the wood of the cross ; were 



Has the Priest a Conscience ? 225 

the pieces all brought together they would make a 
hundred crosses. In one church is some of the 
manna of the wilderness ; in another some blossoms 
from Aaron's rod ; in another an arm of St. Simon ; 
in another a picture of the Virgin painted by Luke ; 
in another one of her combs ; in another the combs 
of the apostles, but little used ; in another a part of 
the body of St. Lazarus, that smells ; in another a 
part of the Gospel of Mark, in his own hand- 
writing ; in another the finger of St. Ann, the Vir- 
gin's sister ; in another St. Patrick's stick, with 
which he drove the venomous reptiles from Ire- 
land ; in another some of St. Joseph's breath caught 
by an angel in a vial ; in another a piece of the 
rope with which Judas hung himself; in another 
some of the Virgin's hair ; in another some of her 
milk. And the monks once showed among their 
relics the spear and shield with which Michael 
encountered the dragon of Revelation ; and some 
relic-monger had a feather from the wing of the 
Holy Spirit, when taking the form of a dove he 
abode upon Christ at his baptism ! 

" I will not, I cannot, here dwell on the awful 
abuses of your doctrine of relics ; on the robbery of 
all kinds of graves in Palestine, and the hawking 
of pilfered bones all over Europe ; on the selling of 
old wood, sufficient to warm a small town through 
the winter, as pieces of the cross ; on the selling of 
hands and feet of particular saints, until the proof 
is positive that some of them had as many hands as 
Briareus, and as many feet as the crawling worm we 



226 An Infamous Traffic. 

call the centipede. I turn from the abuse to the 
doctrine. 

" Now, sir, where is the origin of your doctrine 
of relics ? Can you find a trace of it in the New 
Testament ? Will you, for a moment, compare the 
sham miracles wrought at the tombs of some of 
your saints, with that wrought by the bones of 
a prophet of Israel ? Will you dare to say that the 
curing of a sore throat by a dead man's hand is to 
be placed in the same ground with the miraculous 
cures of the apostles? I venerate the names, I 
would even decorate the tombs, of the good, but 
what virtue is there in a bone from the body of 
Peter or Paul ? or in a slip of wood from the cross, 
or in a strand of rope with which Judas hung him- 
self, or in some hairs from the tail of the beast 
which Balaam whipped ? 

" If relics ever performed miracles why don't they 
perform some now ? Is the virtue of all your old 
bones exhausted ? Where is the holy coat of 
Treves ? Where are now the pilgrims to the bones 
of Becket ? Where is your shop in New York for 
the sale of old teeth, and holy fingers, and holy 
bones, taken from the graves of the saints ? Sir, the 
whole matter is one of the vilest impositions ever 
practiced upon the credulity of man. I do not 
charge you with believing a word of it, I could 
almost as soon believe in the virtue of the paring 
of the toe nails of some of your saints, as admit 
that a man of your high sense could believe in these 
things." 



Too Many Arms and Legs. 227 

This letter of Kirwan to the Archbishop will give 
us some idea to the extent to which the papacy car- 
ries this fraudulent and infamous business, by which 
they knowingly and wilfully rob the people. Writers 
who have made the subject of Romish relics a mat- 
ter of special study, give us much interesting infor- 
mation in regard thereto. They tell us that the 
body of the Apostle Bartholomew is declared in the 
Roman Brieviary and Martyrology to have been 
translated from Benevento to Rome by the Emperor 
Otto III., and is alleged to be entire. It is attested 
by bulls of Alexander III. and Sixtus V. But the 
Church of Benevento alleges that the entire body of 
Bartholomew is there still, and produces bulls to 
that effect from Leo IX., Stephen IX., Benedict XII., 
and Urban V. (all infallible, you know), the earliest 
of which popes reigned fifty years after the death of 
Otto III. Here then are two entire bodies of this one 
Apostle ; but Monte Casino claims the possession of 
a large part of the body, and so does Reims. But 
besides these, there are three heads of this same 
Apostle ; one at Naples ; one formerly at Reichman, 
and a third at Toulouse ; two crowns of the head at 
Frankfort and Prague ; part of a skull at Maes- 
tricht ; a jaw at Steinfield ; part of a jaw at Prague ; 
two jaws at Cologne, and a lower jaw at Murbach ; an 
arm and a hand at Gersiac; a second arm with the 
flesh at Bethune ; a third arm at Amalfi ; a large part 
of a fourth arm at Foppens ; a fifth arm, and part of a 
sixth at Cologne ; a seventh arm at Andechs ; an 
eighth arm at Ebers ; three large leg or arm bones 



228 Heathen Performance in HoboJcen, N. J. 

at Prague ; part of an arm at Brussels, and other 
large portions on the body, not reckoning trifles 
like skin, teeth, and hair, in twenty other places. 

Three different places claim to possess the head of 
John the Baptist. A gentleman, making a tour of 
Italy, declares that while examining the relics in an 
Italian city, he was shown the head of John the 
Baptist. He said to the monk who was exhibiting 
them, " How is this ; I was shown the head of John 
the Baptist two days ago in another city." " 0," said 
the monk, "that is all right; the head you saw 
there is the head of John when he was a young 
man ; but this is his head that was cut off by King 
Herod." 

It is only in recent years that so strange an exhi- 
bition as the translation and procession of such relics 
has been made a public spectacle in the United 
States of America ; but these heathen performances 
and other Pagan acts of the Roman Catholic Church 
are becoming more public and prominent as that 
apostate church increases in political power by the 
great immigration of superstitious and ignorant 
papists from foreign lands, who so soon become 
voters without becoming Americans. The first of 
these heathenish ceremonies on United States soil 
took place in Hoboken, N. J., directly opposite New 
York City, in the year of 1856, on the first day of 
June. This ceremony was described, and the bishop's 
speech reported in the public newspapers on the 
following day. In the following, from the New York 
Evening Express, we have a full description of the 



Blood and Bones of St. Quietus. 229 

performance, and a part of the bishop's address. 
This eye witness says : — 

" This ceremony, so long talked of, came off with 
the most solemn pomp on Sunday, in the Church of 
the Virgin, at Hoboken. The church was crowded 
to repletion, the aisles and every available place 
being filled. It was calculated that two thousand 
people were present at half-past ten o'clock, the great 
majority being females. Twenty-five cents were 
charged as an admission fee, besides which, two col- 
lections were taken up at the two early masses, and 
once during the ceremony of high mass. Tickets, 
which were demanded of each individual who en- 
tered the church, were for sale at the church door, 
and other places. The following is a copy of the 
admission card : ' Translation of the relics of St. 
Quietus, martyr, the Gift of his Holiness, Pope Pius 
IX., to St. Mary's Church, Hoboken, by the Right 
Rev. Dr. Barclay, Bishop of Newark, Sunday, June 
1st, 1856. Tickets, 25 cents each.' Relative to the 
relics themselves we were able to obtain the follow- 
ing particulars : They were presented to Bishop 
Barclay by Pio Nono, and consisted, so it is said, of 
all the bones that could be found in the place of the 
saint's burial, which was in one of the catacombs of 
Rome, called Predixtatus, where the martys were 
buried about the second or third century. The vase 
containing the blood was deposited in the church 
as also the original slab which covered the niche in 
which the martyr's remains were deposited in the 
catacomb. The blood we did not see, but was in- 



230 Blind Leaders of the Blind. 

formed by the pastor that it was in small dry parti- 
cles. On the slab is the following inscription : 
' Quietus qui vixit annisqunique, mensis duo, in 
pace.' The years of the life of the saint are under- 
stood to reckon from the date of his conversion to 
the Christian faith. 

" Previous to the ceremony the bishop administered 
confirmation to about two hundred children of both 
sexes, after which he also administered the conse- 
crated wafer, and addressed the children on the im- 
portance of having received their first communion. 
All the other sacraments, he said, conferred grace, 
but now they had received the Author of all grace 
himself. 

" The chalice used by the bishop is of pure gold, 
and was presented to the church by the Emperor 
Napoleon. On entering the church the first object 
that strikes the eye is the beautiful copy of the cele- 
brated Madonna of Feligno, by Raphael 

"A little before eleven o'clock, the procession en- 
tered the church by the middle door from the tem- 
porary chapel in the house of the pastor. In front 
was carried a silk banner, with a picture of the 
Virgin Mary on one side, and the host and chalice 
on the other, borne by a young lady, dressed in 
white satin and a silk veil, and followed - by forty 
little girls, dressed in white, with red sashes. Next 
came forty boys with red ribbons round their arms, 
because red is the color used for martyrs, and each 
bearing a bouquet. Then followed a cross-bearer, 
carrying a cross, with two supporters, all these 



Praying to Old Bones, 231 

dressed in dalmatic. Then sixteen young men in red 
cassocks and surplices, each bearing a lighted candle 
and bouquet, followed by four deacons and sub- 
deacons in dalmatic. 

" Then came the bishop in cape and mitre, carry- 
ing the shrine containing the bones of St. Quietus, 
followed by two acolytes, holding up the bishop's 
train, and twenty-four young men in surplices, carry- 
ing lighted candles. Then the procession marched 
up the aisle to the right, passed before the altar — 
each one stopping to worship the host, (the wafer 
god) went down the aisle to the left, and passed up 
the centre aisle, the priests chanting ( Ora pro nobis,' 
when the young ladies filed off, the bishops, priests, 
deacons, etc., entering the rails, when the bishop 
deposited the relics on the high altar. 

"At this point the priests and congregation all fell 
down on their knees, and chanted ' Sancte Quieto, 
ora pro nobis' — ' St. Quietus, pray for us ! ' — incense 
being burned at this part of the service. The bishop 
and two priests then advanced to the altar prepared 
for the relics, where they deposited the shrine, and 
after kneeling before it for some time in silent ad- 
miration, proceeded with the celebration of the high 
mass. Rev. Father Cauvin then raised a blue cur- 
tain, which being inside a glass case where a hand- 
some wax image of a child, with a scar on his 
throat, was discovered, the vase which was said to 
contain the blood, and the slab, with the saint's 
epitaph resting in the rear of the figure. The bones 
were carried in a small golden box, about eight 



232 Rome Knows How to Make Money. 

inches in length and six in breadth, and surmounted 
by a cross. They consisted of two pieces, each about 
four inches long, and one and a half in circumfer- 
ence. The large bits were placed in front of a glass 
plate, while numerous small pieces, some an inch or 
so square, and others infinitely smaller, some as 
diminutive as a pea, appeared behind. No one, of 
course, came near enough to see them in the hands 
of the bishop, or on the altar ; but having been ad- 
mitted to the temporary chapel before the ceremony, 
our reporter has thus been enabled to describe them. 

" After the conclusion of the ceremonies of the 
mass, such as burning incense before the altar and 
the bishop, bowing to the latter by the priests, some 
of whom knelt and kissed the hand which he most 
graciously extended to them, the bishop arose, and 
with mitre on head, and cross in hand, delivered 
an address of which we insert the following extracts. 
But we will omit the Bishop's address, except three 
or four lines, as a specimen of his lurid reasoning : 
1 Of our saint, as I have said, we know nothing, 
except that his name was Quietus, and that he died 
for Christ. But if the early records, many of which 
were destroyed, could be found, no doubt we should 
know all about him ! ! ' " 

The reader can easily judge whether this perform- 
ance, exhibited in New Jersey, in sight of the 
great City of New York, and in the year of our 
Lord, 1856, was a heathen, or a Christian affair. No 
doubt most intelligent people will say that such 
a performance was purely heathen, even to the 



Worse than Highway Robbery. 233 

praying to those rotten old bones, and the whole 
thing a disgrace to the age, and to the country 
in which we live. But with " Tickets 25 cents 
Each," and several collections during the day, it was 
a good pecuniary investment for Virgin Mary's 
Church. 

Less than two years ago, a Romish Church in 
New York City, being very anxious to " raise the 
wind," imported from somewhere the arm bone of 
St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. Arch- 
bishop Corrigan, of New York, says that at least 
twenty-five thousand people visited this old bone. 
Thousands of superstitious people paid their money 
for the privilege of kissing the box in which the 
old bone is kept. The New York newspapers con- 
tained almost daily accounts of the crowds that 
attended the fortunate Church, and of the marvel- 
lous cures effected by the useful old bone. The 
names and addresses of many who were cured were 
printed; but when reporters and others called at 
the houses specified, to see the lucky persons who 
had been miraculously cured by this old bone, the 
persons could never be seen. They always happened 
to be " out," or " engaged." But the Church that 
got up this exhibition did a good thing for itself, 
clearing in a little while, it is said, more than 
$20,000. And this fraud, and deception, and rob- 
bery of the people went on for weeks right under 
the eyes of the police and the judges of the city, 
and no one was sent to the State prison, as they deserved 
to have been, and not one of the robbers was indicted 



234 The Holy House of Loretto. 

or arrested, while many a poor man, out of employ- 
ment, and driven almost to despair on account' of 
his starving wife and children, were put in jail 
for stealing the value of a loaf of bread. But then 
it is not lawful to interfere with religion you know ! 
And St. Anne's old bone is still on its travels from 
place to place, working miracles, and filling the 
priests'' pockets. 

2. "Lying wonders " along the line of marvellous 
events, that the poor papists are taught to believe are 
miraculous, will now engage our attention for a 
little. For ages the faithful have been taught to be- 
lieve in the miraculous translation of "the Holy 
House of Loretto." Within a few months a pam- 
phlet has been published in Montreal, Canada, with 
the approval of the bishop and priests, entitled, 
"The Miraculous Translation of the House of the 
Holy Virgin from Nazareth to Loretto, in 1294." 
The immediate object of the publication is to let the 
faithful of Canada know that a fac-simile of the 
former residence of the Holy Family is now on 
exhibition for a small fee, in the serial chapel of the 
Church of Our Lady of Bonsecours, Montreal. The 
miracle is said to have occurred in 1291. The 
house of the Holy Family was in danger of being 
destroyed by the Saracen infidels, and on the night 
of May 10th, it was miraculously raised from its 
foundations, and translated by angels into Dalmatia. 
Early in the morning some peasants of that place 
discovered on a small hill a house without founda- 
tions, which they knew had not been there before. 



The Holy House Takes Another Start. 235 

The astonishment of the peasants was increased 
upon beholding, the next day, their venerable 
bishop, who had come to visit the wonder, and who 
had been confined to his bed with an incurable 
disease for the space of three years. To prove 
the truth of this apparition Our Lady had appeared 
to him and restored him to health. This miracle 
produced the liveliest feelings of gratitude in 
Dalmatia. The Governor of Dalmatia, Nicholas 
Frangipanni, and the Emperor Rodolph de Habs- 
bourgh, ordained that a committee of wise and pru- 
dent men should visit the site of the holy house in 
Palestine, who found that the house had really been 
removed. On the night of December 10th, 1294, 
the house again disappeared. Transported by angels 
across the Adriatic Sea, it was deposited in the 
woods near the city of Recanati, where it appeared 
in the midst of the astonished shepherds. The 
miracles wrought by this Holy House while at 
Recanati, did much to convert heretics and sceptics ; 
but on the 7th of September, 1295, the angels again 
took it up and carried it to Loretto, in Italy, where 
it has remained to this day. In this house is 
also shown the holy porringer, in which, they gravely 
assert, the pap was made for the infant Jesus ! The 
pilgrims who visit this holy house regard it as a 
special favor to obtain a chaplet or a rosary that 
has been shaken in this wonderful porringer, duly 
certified by the priest, or an inch square of the 
Virgin's old veil, which is changed every year ; and 
if fortunate enough to obtain them they sacredly 



236 The Cow Jumped over the Moon. 

preserve these treasures, which they regard as pre- 
servatives against witchcraft and other calamities. 
The holy house and image of the Virgin are hung 
around with votive offerings, some valuable, such 
as golden hearts, chains with precious stones, silver 
and gilt angels, etc., which have been contributed 
by rich devotees, besides multitudes of other offer- 
ings, the gifts of the poorer pilgrims. A writer 
in referring to this " lying wonder," humorously 
says : " This ridiculous fable of the journey through 
the air of the Holy House, porringer and all, irre- 
sistably reminds one of the famous feat recorded by 
Mother Goose, about " the cow that jumped over the 
moon," and " the dish that ran off with the spoon." 
And yet, incredible as it may seem, the great body 
of Romanists, amidst the light of this nineteenth 
century, profess actually to believe this most absurd 
of all impostures; and a regular establishment of 
priests is maintained, with an annual revenue of 
many thousands of dollars, the proceeds of the 
exhibition. A small pebble, picked up in the house, 
has been sold for ten dollars ; and an unfortunate 
mouse that concealed itself under the Virgin's dress, 
for as much as would purchase an ox, and after- 
ward embalmed by the purchaser and kept as a 
preservative against diseases and accidents." " The 
Litany of the Lady of Loretto " may be found in 
" The Garden of the Soul," (page 114), and in most 
other Romish prayer books. 

Many Protestants, in their simplicity, say, when 
these pious frauds are referred to, " 0, such things 



Another Lying Wonder. 237 

were done, no doubt, in the dark ages ; but Rome 
has changed." No ! Rome has not changed. Her 
boast is that she is infallible, and infallibility can- 
not change. We are speaking of " lying wonders" 
that are being wrought by Rome's juggling priests 
at this very time. One of these stupendous frauds 
of modern invention is what is called the " Holy 
Coat of Treves." A pretty full account of this pious 
fraud is contained in the following letter written by 
Professor G. de Felice, dated Montauban, November 
24th, 1844. 

" It would be difficult to imagine anything more 
scandalous, more disgusting, more contrary to the 
spirit of the gospel, than the popish farce recently en- 
acted at Treves, a city of Germany, belonging now 
to the kingdom of Prussia. The clergy of Treves 
pretend to have in their hands the seamless coat of 
Jesus Christ (John xix : 23, 24), and they made a 
formal exhibition of it from the 8th of August last 
to the 6th of October, inviting all Romanists to 
come, and see, and touch, this precious relic. Some 
journals say that eleven hundred thousand pilgrims 
responded to this call. The most moderate compu- 
tation says the number was at least five hundred thou- 
sand. 

"What a striking proof that the church of Rome 
shows the same spirit in all ages, the same conduct, 
the same contempt of the common sense of man- 
kind, and the same disposition to deceive miserably 
the consciences of men ! In the nineteenth cen- 
tury, in the heart of all Europe, by the side of the 



238 Ambitious and Greedy Priests. 

flourishing literary institutions of Germany, where 
a thousand periodical journals are daily relating 
all the news, are priests who dare, in the face of 
heaven and earth, to exhibit an old bit of cloth, 
which they call our Saviour's coat ! and they promise 
a plenary indulgence to all who will come to view it ! 
and they assert that this relic will work miracles ! 
and a million of people are found flocking from all 
parts to countenance this absolute sacrilege. Oh ! 
let us not be so proud of what we call the intelligence 
of our age. Gross darkness still covers the people. 
There are still thousands, millions, of unhappy 
men, who are the dupes of ambitious and greedy 
priests. 

" If we were told that in the interior of Africa 
the degraded natives prostrated themselves before a 
fetish, or that on the banks of the Ganges a blind 
multitude sought the pardon of their sins by wor- 
shipping idols, it would seem credible to us, be- 
cause those poor creatures have never heard the 
name of Jesus Christ. But that in a church pre- 
tending to be Christian, and even more Christian 
than all others, such idolatries should occur, that 
they should be sanctioned by bishops, cardinals, 
even the Pope himself, would seem incredible at 
first view ; we should require most authentic evi- 
dence to believe this fact ; and now we ask, how can 
reasonable and intelligent men remain in a church 
which has sunk so low ? Will not a sense of shame 
force them to disown a clergy who speculate so 
imprudently upon the stupidity of the mass of the 
people ? 



The Holy Coat of Treves. 239 

" Cicero said that two soothsayers of Rome could 
not meet without smiling. I presume it is so with 
the priests of Treves. No, they would not dare to 
affirm, with their hands on their hearts, that they 
believe this bit of old cloth is the real coat of Jesus 
Christ ! Be this as it may, the invitation was made 
to all Romanists, and on the 18th of August the 
Bishop of Treves performed mass in his pontifical 
robes, and afterward exhibited the seamless coat. 
All the parishes in the city made a pompous pro- 
cession. The civil and military authorities, the 
students of college, the school children, the me- 
chanics, tradesmen, all attended. In the evening 
the houses were illuminated. The soldiers were led 
by their officers before the relic, with their colors 
lowered. Three hundred prisoners asked permis- 
sion to see the holy garment, and they came with 
great gravity and compunction. During the whole 
exhibition the cathedral was open from five o'clock 
in the morning until eight o'clock at night, and it 
was constantly filled with an immense crowd. 

" Pilgrims came from all countries, chiefly from 
Germany, and the eastern frontiers of France. They 
were for the most part peasants, who with their 
vicar at their head, looked at this pagan spectacle. 
The city of Treves presented, during the exhibition, 
a lively scene. In all the streets and public places 
processions were continually passing. Ordinarily 
the pilgrims marched two and two, and chanted a 
monotonous litany. All the hotels were crowded. 
Extensive wooden barracks were erected at the gates 



240 Holy Thieves and Robbers. 

of the city, and there, for a penny or two a head, the 
pilgrims found a little straw to lie upon. At two 
o'clock in the morning the noise began again, and 
continued till a very advanced hour of the night. 
Play actors of all sorts established themselves at 
Treves, and ever}^ day the theatres were opened to 
amuse the strangers. There were panoramas, dio- 
ramas, menageries, puppet shows, all the diversions 
which are found in France at fairs. Everywhere 
mirth and revelry abounded, wholly unlike the 
composed and pious feelings inspired by the per- 
formance of a pious duty. 

" Let us now accompany the pilgrims to the 
cathedral. At the bottom of the nave or an altar 
brilliantly lighted, is the relic, in a golden box. 
Steps placed at each side lead to it. The pilgrims 
approach, mount the steps, and pass their hand 
through an oval aperture in the box to touch the 
coat of the Lord. Two priests sitting near the 
relic receive the chaplets, medals, hoods, and other 
articles of the faithful, and put them in contact with 
the marvellous coat, because mere contact is a means 
of blessing. Objects which have touched the relic 
are consecrated, sanctified ; they then become holy 
chaplets, holy medals, etc. ; and after this ceremony 
the pilgrims go away rejoicing, thinking they have 
received the remission of all their sins. It is need- 
less to say that this exhibition was distinguished by 
numerous miracles. Has not Rome miracles always 
at her service ? Is not her whole history filled 
with striking prodigies ? 



Better than a Gold Mine. 241 

" This exhibition, of course, brought a great amount 
of money to the priests. This is the true explanation 
of the riddle. It is estimated that the offerings of 
the faithful amounted to five hundred thousand 
francs (one hundred thousand dollars), in the space 
of six weeks, without reckoning the 80,000 medals 
of the Virgin which were sold, and the profits from 
the sale of chaplets and other objects of devotion. 
Even now, in all the towns of France, the priests 
employ persons, especially women, to sell at an 
exorbitant price a thousand petty articles which have 
touched the holy coat I such as — ribbons, bits of cloth, 
cotton and silk, some of which are shaped like the 
coat, besides crucifixes and images, in wood, or in 
glass. The clergy have monopolized all the old 
rags in the neighborhood of Treves, and sell them 
for their weight in gold, and they find dupes weak 
enough to purchase these amulets ! The product of 
this traffic, added to the offerings of the pilgrims, 
will be, perhaps, from one to two millions of francs. 

"We mention, however, one honorable exception 
among the Romish clergy. A German priest, named 
John Rouge, has published a letter, addressed to the 
Bishop of Treves, which has produced much sensa- 
tion. Fifty thousand copies of this letter were sold 
in a few days. All Germany exulted as if they 
heard the voice of a new Luther. It is said that this 
bold and fearless priest has been summoned before 
the ecclesiastical courts, and is to be deposed from 
the priesthood. I give you some extracts from this 
protest. He says : c What would have seemed till 



242 A Brave Priest 



now a fable, a fiction, Bishop Arnold, of Treves, pre- 
senting to the adoration of the faithful a garment 
called the coat of Christ ; you have heard it, Chris- 
tians of the nineteenth century ; you know it, men 
of Germany ; you know it, spiritual and temporal 
governors of the German people — it is no longer 

fable, or fiction, it is a real fact Truly we can 

here apply the words : ( Whoever can believe in such 
things without losing his reason has no reason to lose. 1 " 

The author of the protest then points out the dan- 
gers to which pilgrims were exposed who visited 
this relic. " This anti-christian spectacle," he says, 
" is but a snare laid for superstition, formalism, 
fanaticism ; to plunge men into vicious habits. Such 
is the only benefit which the exhibition of the holy 
coat, whether genuine or not, could produce. And 
the man who offers this garment — a human work — 
as an object of adoration ; who perverts the religious 
feelings of the credulous, ignorant, and suffering 
multitudes ; who thus opens a door to superstition 
and its train of vices ; who takes the money and the 
bread of the poor starving people ; who makes the 
German nation a laughing-stock to all other nations 
— this man is a bishop, a German bishop : Bishop 
Arnold, of Treves ! 

" Bishop Arnold, of Treves ! I turn to you, and I 
conjure you as a priest, as a teacher of the people, 
and in the name of her rulers ; I conjure you to put 
an end to this Pagan exhibition of the holy coat ; 
to take away this garment from public view, and 
not to let this evil become greater than it is already. 



A Well Deserved Rebuke. 243 

" Do you not know — as a bishop yon must know, 
that the founder of the Christian religion left to his 
disciples and their successors, Not His Coat, But 
His Spirit. His coat, Bishop Arnold, of Treves, 
was given to his executioners ! 

"Do you not know — as a bishop you ought to know, 
that Christ has said, " God is a spirit, and they that 
ivorship him must worship him in spirit and in truth f" 

"Do you not know — as a bishop you ought to know, 
the Gospel expressly forbids the adoration of images 
and relics of every kind ; that the christians of the 
apostolic age, and of the first three centuries, would 
never suffer an image or a relic in their churches ; 
that it is a Pagan superstition, and that the Fathers 
of the first three centuries reproached the Pagans on 
this account ? 

"Be not misled by the great concourse of visi- 
tors. Believe me, that while hundreds of thou- 
sands of pilgrims go to Treves, millions of others 
groan in anger and bitterness over the indignity of 
such an exhibition. And this anger exists not in 
this or that class, this or that party only, it exists 
among all, and everywhere, even in the very bosom 
of the Catholic clergy, and the judgment will come 
sooner than you think. Already, history takes her 
pen ; she holds up your name, Arnold, of Treves, to 
the contempt of the present age and posterity, and 
stigmatizes you as The Tetzel of the Nineteenth 
Century ! " 

In a subsequent letter, addressed to the Romanists 
of Germany, and dated on the New Year of 1845, 



244 "Holy Coat, Pray for Us." 

Rouge mentions a fact which sets this gross popish 
imposture in the most ludicrous point of view, and 
challenges his opponents to deny it — that pilgrims 
to this mavellous piece of old cloth have been heard 
in numbers to offer this prayer, " Holy coat I pray for 
us /" And this in the nineteenth century, and in 
Germany, one of the most enlightened nations in 
the world, and in the name of the holy religion of 
our Lord Jesus Christ ! "Holy coat ! pray for us ! " 
"Lying wonders." Such is popery. This faithful 
and fearless man, as might have been expected, was 
degraded from the priesthood and excommunicated. 



CHAPTER XII. 
" Lying Wonders," Continued. 

"And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." 
"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, 
with all power, and signs and lying wonders." This is 
the way in which Paul speaks of the Antichrist ; and 
we have advanced far enough in this examination 
to see how exactly this prophecy has its fulfilment 
in the Church of Rome. We could fill a volume, or 
volumes, with examples of the " lying wonders " 
that enter so largely into the history of the Romish 
Church, and that have brought millions of money 
into her yawning coffers. And these shameful frauds 
and deceptions are not merely things of the past, for, 
as we have seen, they are practiced at the present day. 

It was only six months ago, December 2, 1895, 
that the New York Herald contained the following 
report of a discourse by Archbishop Corrigan. The 
Herald says: " After the solemn high mass at St. 
Patrick's Cathedral yesterday, Archbishop Corrigan 
preached on his recent visit to the shrine of Our 
Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico, where he attended 
the centenary ceremonies. He said the shrine was 
to Mexico what Our Lady of Lourdes was to France. 
More than one hundred thousand persons attended 
the services, the most noteworthy feature of which was 
crowning of the picture of Madonna with a crown 
valued at $25,000. Archbishop Corrigan explained 
the character of the picture, and recounted the his- 

245 



246 Feeding Sheep on Chaff. 

tory of the miracle to which the scene owed its origin, 
much as it has already been told in the Herald. He 
dwelt at length on the wonders of the cape, on which 
had been imprinted a miraculous picture of the Virgin. 
More than three hundred years have passed, he said, 
and the imprint has retained its wonderful fresh- 
ness. The cape is made of the "maguey" plant, 
peculiar to Mexico, and is woven loosely like a net. 
For centuries it has been a puzzle to scientists and 
artists. An imitation of it, painted by an artist 
named Raphael Gutierrez, became discolored after 
ten years, yet the original remains unchanged after 
the lapse of centuries. It is encased in an immense 
solid gold frame. It was upon this, he said, that the 
crown, studded with diamonds and other precious 
stones was placed, while hosannas arose from the 
throats of the thousands present. He closed his dis- 
course with a panegyric of the Madonna, who, he 
said, had twice appeared on earth to show her love for 
the Catholic Church." 

However splendid and costly the St. Patrick's 
Cathedral may appear in its external grandeur, and 
internal finishings and furnishings, the spectacle 
presented in that great Church on the first Sunday 
in December, 1895, was such as might well cause a 
real Christian to blush with shame, and almost 
cause tears to fill even angels' eyes. In the pulpit 
stands a man calling himself a minister of the meek 
and lowly Jesus, and a successor of the humble 
apostle Peter, to whom the Saviour said : " Feed my 
sheep. Feed my lambs." This archbishop, clothed 



Virgin Mary an Artist. 247 

in an outfit far more heathen than christian, sees 
before him a mighty host of people on the way 
to eternity, and the judgment seat of Christ. He 
claims to be the shepherd, and the sheep have come 
to be fed at the shepherd's hands. The Lord Jesus 
Christ, in his last commission to his apostles, said : 
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
every creature: he that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be 
damned." (Mark xvi : 15, 16). In these words of 
the Master he declares the true work of the Chris- 
tian minister, and the true conditions of salvation. 
Instead of preaching the gospel, the Archbishop 
of New York, a professed shepherd of the flock, 
undertakes to instruct the minds and feed the souls 
of the people with " a cock and bull story " of a 
pretended miracle, wrought by the Virgin Mary, 
who had become an artist since she went to heaven, 
and painted her own portrait on " a cape made of 
the maguey plant, peculiar to Mexico." And this 
veracious and holy priest of God declares that the 
painting of that " cape " was certainly a miracle 
because the colors retain their original freshness, 
while the colors of a picture painted as an imitation 
of it " became discolored after ten years ; " which only 
proves that the artist who sought to imitate the pic- 
ture did not understand his trade ; for the frescoes 
of Raphael, who was born more than four hundred 
years ago, " retain all their original freshness." So 
this proof that the picture was painted miraculously 
is no proof at all. Did, or does, Archbishop Cor- 



248 A Depraved* Archbishop. 

rigan believe for one moment that the Virgin Mary, 
or any other celestial being, painted that " cape," 
especially when he teaches that she has her hands 
full and her time fully occupied with presenting 
the petitions of two hundred millions of " the faith- 
ful " that are coming to her day and night from 
every part of the world ? Whenever did this dear, 
busy woman find time to learn to paint pictures ? 
This humble (/ /) minister of the gospel (/ /) says that 
" the most noteworthy feature of the occasion was 
the crowning of the picture of the Madonna with 
a crown valued at $25,000." Just think of it ! 
Twenty-five thousand dollars expended in providing, 
not for the instruction of the ignorant — and ninety- 
three per cent, of the people of Mexico are set down 
as being unable to read and write — not to provide 
food for the starving people, but to buy a golden 
crown to be set on the head of a silly and worthless 
" picture ; " and this money, or a large part of it, 
w T rung from the ignorant and superstitious poor, 
who labor for from six cents a day for laborers, 
and twenty-five to thirty cents a day for skilled 
mechanics ! 

" Archbishop Corrigan," says the New York Herald, 
" explained the character of the picture, and re- 
counted the history of the miracle" The Arch- 
bishop, while " recounting the history of the miracle" 
must have looked off into space, lest he should meet 
the eye of a brother priest and be betrayed into an 
audible smile, or a downright outburst of laughter. 
But no doubt His Eminence managed to keep a 



Heathenism in St. Patrick's Cathedral. 249 

straight face while " recounting the nature of the 
miracle" restraining his risibilities until here turned 
to the fisherman's — that is to say, to the Episcopal 
palace. 

The Archbishop, in his eloquent sermon (?) de- 
clared that " more than one hundred thousand persons 
attended the services." Ah ! that was the saddest part 
of the whole affair ! " More than one hundred 
thousand persons- attended the services ;" joyfully 
exclaims this humble, and holy minister of — whom ? 
Of what ? This vast multitude, equal to the entire 
population of a great city, decoyed away from their 
homes, their business, and their serious occupations, 
for the silly and contemptible purpose of crowning 
a picture with a " golden crown, studded with 
diamonds, and other precious stones ! " What op- 
portunities for disease ! what temptations to sin ! 
But each one of this vast multitude is expected to 
make an offering to the priests ! Ah ! yes : that is it ! 
An offering ! An offering ! The Holy Church must 
be supported ; and the holy priests can perform the 
farce of the Mass better ; and be better fitted to con- 
fess their female penitents, if their stomachs are 
filled with the good things, and their pockets 
with gold. Offerings! Yes : this is the explanation 
and purpose of the vast imposture ! 

We are further informed by the Archbishop — 
the present Archbishop of New York — that "the 
picture is encased in an immense solid gold frame. 
It was upon this, he said, that the crown, studded 
with diamonds, and other precious stones, was 



250 St. Patrick's a Heathen Temple. 

placed ; while hosannas arose from the throats of the 
thousands of persons present." Had the Archbishop 
been a true minister of Jesus Christ, those " hosan- 
nas " would have filled him with grief rather than 
exultation. Hosanna is an exclamation of praise to 
God. But hosannas offered to God on such an 
occasion, and by such a crowd, would have been 
sacrilege, and well nigh blasphemy, for what had 
God to do with such a heathenish and iniquitous 
performance? Those hosannas were undoubtedly 
offered in worship to the picture. In any case it was 
a most melancholy exhibition of heathenism ! The 
Herald says : The Archbishop " closed his discourse 
with a panegyric of the Madonna, who, he said, 
had twice appeared on earth to show her love for the 
Catholic Church." 

A still more melancholy performance than that at 
Guadalupe, in Mexico, was the spectacle presented 
in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, on De- 
cember 1st, 1895. There, in a temple supposed to 
have been dedicated to the worship of Almighty 
God, stands a man taking advantage of the ignor- 
ance and superstition of the people, deliberately 
seeking to render that ignorance more dense, and 
that superstition more ruinous, by giving utterance 
to statements that he certainly knew to be ridiculous 
fables and monstrous falsehoods. No sane man can 
for a moment suppose that the Archbishop of New 
York believed a word of what he said, beyond 
the description of the horrible festival. This spec- 
tacle of a professed priest of God, deliberately teach- 



Shall We Return to the Dark Ages ? 251 

ing the most degrading heathenism in the very 
Metropolis of the most advanced and intelligent 
city in the world, at the very close of the nineteenth 
century, is most discouraging and appalling, and 
American citizens cannot too soon be aroused to 
the fact that all the priests, and bishops, and arch- 
bishops, and cardinals, and all the Romish newspa- 
pers of the land, aided by the so-called " Legate," 
who is no legate at all, although his bastard flag in 
Washington insults our glorious Stars and Stripes, 
— all these have but one purpose, and that is to drag 
this nation back, so far as possible, to that golden 
age of Popery , called by all others, the dark ages. 

How shamefully the Romanists have treated the 
Virgin Mary ! They degrade her while pretending 
to honor her, and while glorifying and deifying her, 
they insult her. 

All Protestant Christians love and honor her, 
whom God himself so greatly honored and distin- 
guished, by choosing her from among all the 
women of the human race to be the mother of the 
world's Redeemer. Marvellous indeed was the ap- 
parition that appeared to Mary, the sweet and 
modest maid of Nazareth, and sweet and simple is 
the story, as the Evangelist, Luke, records it: — 
" And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was 
sent from God unto a city of Galilee, called Naza- 
reth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was 
Joseph, of the house of David ; and the virgin's 
name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, 
and said, ' Hail thou that art highly favored ; the 
Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women.' " 



252 The Immaculate Conception, 

All true christians must feel the profoundest 
respect and admiration for her whom God chose to 
confer such unspeakable blessings on our fallen 
race, and this respect and admiration are accorded 
her by all Protestant believers ; while conferring on 
her spurious titles, and false dignities, — to call her 
the " Mother of God" and to make her the chief 
mediator in heaven, and to offer worship and 
prayers to her— all this is to grieve her, if a spirit 
in heaven can be grieved, and it is also an insult to 
the Father and the Son. How infinitely absurd, 
and even blasphemous, is it for Romanists to call 
Mary the " Mother of God ! " It is true that Jesus 
Christ was " God manifest in the flesh." He had 
two natures, and Mary was the mother of " the man, 
Christ Jesus." The God nature, having existed 
from eternity, could have no mother. This title, 
then, is one of the " lying wonders " of the Romish 
Antichrist. 

In December, 1854, the Roman Catholic Church 
gave the lie to Almighty God, and insulted the intel- 
ligence of the world by decreeing the dogma of the 
"Immaculate Conception" of the Virgin Mary. This 
was done at the instigation and command of Pope 
Pius IX. It would be interesting to insert in this 
place the entire decree as formulated and given to 
the world by said Pope ; but we can only quote a 
few of the closing sentences, which will be sufficient 
to show the absurdity and wickednees of the whole 
decree. The Pope says : 

" Let all the Children of the Catholic Church, 



The Horrible Definition. 253 

most dear to us, hear these our words, and with a 
more ardent zeal of piety, religion and love, pro- 
ceed to worship, invoke, and pray to the most 
blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, conceived with- 
out original sin, and let them fly with entire con- 
fidence to this most sweet mother of mercy and 
grace, in all dangers, difficulties, doubts, and fears. 
For nothing is to be feared, and nothing is to be 
despaired of under her guidance, under her aus- 
pices, under her favor, under her protection, who, 
bearing toward us a maternal affection, and taking 
up the business of our salvation, is solicitous for the 
whole human race, and appointed by God the 
queen of heaven and earth, and exalted above all 
the choirs of angels, and orders of saints, standing 
at the right hand of Jesus Christ, our Lord, inter- 
cedes most powerfully, and obtains what she asks, 
and cannot be frustrated. Finally, in order that 
this, our definition of the immaculate conception of 
the most blessed Virgin Mary, may be brought to 
the knowledge of the universal church, we will 
these letters apostolic to stand for a perpetual remem- 
brance of the thing, commanding that two tran- 
scripts or printed copies, transcribed by the hand of 
some notary public, and authenticated by the seal 
of a person of ecclesiastical rank appointed for the 
purpose, the same faith shall be paid which would 
be paid to these presents if they were exhibited or 
shown. Let no man interfere with this our declara- 
tion, pronunciation, and definition, or oppose or con- 
tradict it with presumptuous rashness. If any should 



254 Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth ! 

presume to assail it, let him know that he will 
incur the indignation of the Omnipotent God, and 
of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul. 

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, in the year of the 
Incarnation of our Lord, 1854, the sixth of the 
ides of December, in the ninth year of our ponti- 
ficate." Pius IX., Pope, 

Although in these few sentences we quote but a 
small part of the quite lengthy document in which 
Pope Pius IX. promulgated his decree of the im- 
maculate conception, they are sufficient to show, 
very clearly, that the Pope sets himself most de- 
cidedly against the most positive teachings of the 
Almighty, as made known to us in the holy scrip- 
tures. The Pope declares that Mary was " appointed 
by God the queen of heaven and earth." When 
was that appointment made ? There is not a word 
written within the covers of the Bible to the effect 
that God ever made such an appointment. It is 
one of the lying traditions of the papacy. God 
himself declares that He is " our refuge and strength, 
a present help in time of trouble." God himself says 
— " Call upon Me in the time of trouble, and I will 
deliver thee." In direct and insulting opposition to 
this word of God the Pope says — " Pray to the most 
blessed Virgin Mary .... fly with active con- 
fidence to this most sweet mother of mercy and 
grace in all dangers, difficulties, doubts and fears." 

God says : — " Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy 
God." The Pope says : " Proceed to worship the 
Virgin Mary." And so the Pope "exalts himself 



The Blasphemous Decree. 255 

above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. " 
God says of our Lord Jesus Christ : " He ever 
liveth to make intercession for us." But the Pope 
says " that Mary intercedes most powerfully, and ob- 
tains what she asks, and cannot be frustrated." How 
insolent ! How horrible ! How blasphemous is all 
this ! And how clearly do the words of the Pope 
himself declare him to be Antichrist ! Here again 
we see the Little Horn " speaking great things 
against the Most High." 

Still more insulting to the Great Author of our 
salvation are the following words of the Pope, in the 
same paper : " For nothing is to be feared, and 
nothing is to be despaired of, under her guidance, 
under her auspices, under her favor, under her pro- 
tection, who, bearing toward us a maternal affection, 
and taking up the business of our salvation, is solicitous 
for the whole human race." There is not one word in 
the holy scriptures about Mary "taking up the busi- 
ness of our salvation." Jesus himself declared : 
" The Son of man is come to seek and to save that 
which is lost." And again : " No man cometh unto 
the Father but by me" It is the plain teaching of 
the Bible, from beginning to end, that it was Jesus 
" who took up the business of our salvation," and 
not Mary. Here, then, the so-called infallible 
Pope cunningly holds up Mary as the hope of the 
lost, and not Christ, and in all the litanies to 
Mary, as found in all their books of devotion, the 
poor deceived Romanists are taught to pray to Mary 
as " The refuge of sinners," " Comforter of the 



256 More "Lying Wonders" 

afflicted/' "Cause of our joy," — prayers that should 
be addressed to Christ alone. How certain is it that 
the Pope is the greatest enemy of God and man. 

While Romanists pray to Mary and worship her 
as if she were God, and offer more prayers to her 
than to Him, they, as we have said, degrade and 
dishonor her by the absurd stories they tell about 
her, and the silly tricks they attribute to her, and 
which they magnify into miracles. The following 
are quoted from Dowling's " History of Romanism :" 

1. " A knight to whom Dominic presented a rosary, 
arrived at such a perfection of piety that his eyes 
were opened, and he saw an angel take every bead as 
he dropped it, and carry it to the Queen of Heaven, 
who immediately magnified it, and built with the 
whole string a palace upon a mountain in Paradise. 

2. " When Dominic entered Toulouse, after one 
of his interviews with the Virgin, all the bells of 
the city rang to welcome him, untouched by human 
hands ! But the heretics neither heeded this, nor 
regarded his earnest exhortation to them to abjure 
their errors and make use of the rosary. To punish 
their obstinacy a dreadful storm of thunder and 
lightning set the whole firmament in a blaze ; the 
earth shook, and the howlings of affrighted animals 
were mingled with the shrieks and groans of the 
terrified multitudes. They crowded to the church 
where Dominic was preaching as to an asylum. 
i Citizens of Toulouse/ said he, ' I see before me a 
hundred and fifty angels, sent by Christ and his 
mother to punish you ! This tempest is the right 



Wonderful Dominic ! 257 

hand of God ! There was an image of the Virgin in 
the church, who raised her arm in a threatening 
attitude as he spoke.' c Hear me/ he continued, 
1 that arm shall not be withdrawn till you appease 
her by reciting the rosarj^.' New outcries now arose. 
The devils yelled because of the torment this in- 
flicted on them. The terrified Toulousians prayed 
and scourged themselves, and told their beads with 
such good effect that the storm at length ceased. 
Dominic, satisfied with their repentance, gave the 
word, and down fell the arm of the image ! 

3. "In one of his visits to heaven, Dominic was 
carried to the throne of Christ, where he beheld 
many religionists of both sexes, but none of his own 
order. This so afflicted him that he began to lament 
aloud, and to inquire why they did not appear in 
bliss. Upon this, Christ, laying his hand on the 
Virgin's shoulder, said, 1 1 have committed your 
order (the Dominicans) to my mother's care,' and 
she, lifting up her robe, discovered an innumerable 
company of Dominicans, friars, and nuns, nestled 
under it ! 

4. " The next of these foolish legends is almost 
too impious to be repeated, but these are only some 
of the ' lying wonders ' on which their priests and 
their books undertake to feed the minds and souls 
of the ignorant and superstitious Romanists. The 
Dominicans — the inquisitors, and the most blood- 
thirsty men that ever cursed this world — tell us that 
'the Virgin appeared to Dominic in a cave near Tou- 
louse ; that she called him her son and her husband ; 



258 Tricks Attributed to Mary, 

that she took him in her arms and bared her breasts 
to him that he might drink their nectar ! She told 
him that were she a mortal she could not live with- 
out him, so excessive was her love ; and even now, 
immortal as she was, she should die for him, did 
not the Almighty support her, as he had done 
at the Crucifixion ! At another visit she espoused 
him, and the saints, and the Redeemer himself came 
down to witness the marriage ceremony !' " 

In this last story the Virgin Mary is dishonored 
and really accused of immorality. But such are the 
inconsistencies of popery. 

Similar to this is a fact stated by that grand and 
noble man, Father Chiniquy. He says : " Unfortu- 
nately, many of the books placed in our hands by 
our superiors to confirm our faith, form our char- 
acter, and sustain our piety and our confidence in 
the dogmas of the Church of Rome, had a fright- 
ful resemblance to the histories I had read of the gods 
and godesses. The miracles attributed to the Virgin 
Mary often appeared to be only a reproduction of 
the tricks and deceits by which the priests of Jupiter 
and Venus and Minerva, etc., used to obtain their 
ends and grant the requests of their worshippers. 
Some of those miracles of the Virgin Mary equalled, 
if they did not surpass, in absurdity and immor- 
ality, what my theology taught us among the most 
hideous accounts of the heathen gods and godesses. 
I could cite hundreds of such miracles which shocked 
my faith, and caused me to blush in secret, at the 
conclusion to which I was forced to come in com- 



The Glories of Mary. 259 

paring the worship of ancient and modern Rome. 
I will only quote three of these modern miracles, 
which are found in one of the books, the best 
approved by the Pope, entitled, " The Glories of 
Mary." 

First Miracle. " The great favors bestowed by the 
Holy Virgin upon a man named Beatrix, of the 
convent of Frontebraldo, show how merciful she is 
to sinners. The fact is related by Cesanus and by 
Father Rho. This unfortunate nun, having been 
possessed by a criminal passion for a young man, 
determined to leave the convent and elope with him. 
She was the doorkeeper of the convent, and having 
placed the keys at the feet of a statue of the Virgin, 
she boldly went out, and lived the life of a prostitute 
for fifteen years, in a far off place. One day, acci- 
dentally meeting the purveyor of the convent, and 
thinking she would not be recognized by him, she 
asked him news of Sister Beatrix. 

" ' I know her well/ answered this man. ' She is a 
holy nun, and mistress of the novices.' 

"At these words Breatrix was confused ; but to 
understand what it meant she changed her clothing, 
and going to the convent inquired after Sister 
Beatrix. 

" The Holy Virgin instantly appeared to her in 
the form of the statue, at whose feet she had laid 
the keys at her departure. The Divine Mother spoke 
to her in this wise : i Know, Beatrix, that in order 
to preserve your honor, I have taken your place, 
and done your duty aver since you left the convent. 



260 The Idling Head. 



My daughter, return to God, and be penitent, for 
my Son is still waiting for you. Try by the holiness 
of thy life to preserve the good reputation which I 
have earned you.' Having thus spoken, the Holy 
Virgin disappeared. Beatrix re-entered the monas- 
tery, donned her religious dress, and grateful for 
the mercies of Mary, she led the life of a saint." 
(Glories of Mary, chap, vi., sec. 2.) 

Second Miracle. " Rev. Father Rierenberg relates 
that there lived in a city called Aragona, a beautiful 
and noble girl by the name of Alexandra, whom 
two young men loved passionately. One day, mad- 
dened by the jealousy one had of the other, they 
fought together, and both were killed. Their parents 
were so infuriated at the young girl, that they killed 
her, cut her head off, and threw her into a well. A 
few days after, St. Dominic, passing by the place, 
came to the well, and was inspired to cry out, 'Alex- 
andra, come here P The head of the deceased im- 
mediately placed itself on the edge of the well 
and entreated St. Dominic to hear its confession. 
Having heard it, the Saint gave her the communion 
in the presence of the great multitude of people, and 
then commanded her to tell them why she had re- 
ceived so great a favor. 

" She answered that although she was in a state of 
mortal sin when she was decapitated, yet as she 
had a habit of reciting the holy rosary, the Virgin 
had preserved her life. The head, full of life, re- 
mained on the edge of the well two days in the 
presence of a great many people, and then the soul 



Mary Takes the Place of a Wife. 261 

went to purgatory. But fifteen days after this the 
soul of Alexandra appeared to St. Dominic, bright 
and beautiful as a star, and told him that one of the 
surest means of removing souls from purgatory was 
the recitation of the rosary in their favor." (Glories 
of Mary, ch. viii.) 

Third miracle. "A servant of Mary one day 
went into one of her churches to pray, without tell- 
ing her husband of it. Owing to a terrible storm, 
she was prevented from returning home that night. 
Harassed by the fear that her husband would be 
angry with her, she implored the Virgin's aid. But 
on returning home she found her husband full 
of kindness. After asking her husband a few ques- 
tions on the subject, she discovered that on that very 
night the Divine Mother had taken her form and 
features, and had taken her place in all the affairs 
of the household. She told her husband of the 
great miracle, and they both became very much 
attached to the Holy Virgin." (Glories of Mary. 
Examples of Protection, 40.) 

In two at least of those " lying wonders," Mary is 
represented as doing things that would blast the 
reputation of any woman in the estimation of all 
virtuous people. And thus this truly lovely and 
God-honored woman, beloved by all true christians, 
has her memory insulted, and her morality im- 
pugned even while a saint in Heaven ! 

The chief of all the " lying wonders " of the 
Romish priesthood is presented in their changing — 
as they claim — a bit of baked dough into the real 



262 Transubstantiation a Fraud. 

flesh and blood and divinity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. In " The Full Catechism of Catholic Re- 
ligion/' that bears the endorsement of Cardinal 
Wiseman and Archbishop Hughes, and published 
by " The Catholic Publication Society/' in 1875, we 
have the following questions and answers : 

" What is the Holy Eucharist ? 

" It is the true Body, and true Blood of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who is really, and substantially present 
under the appearances of bread and wine for the 
nourishment of our souls. 

" Is there in the Holy Eucharist all that is re- 
quisite for constituting a Sacrament? 

" Yes ; there is. 1. The visible sign, i. e. the appear- 
ance of bread and wine ; 2. The invisible grace, i. e. 
Jesus Christ Himself, the Author and Dispenser of all 
graces; and 3. The institution by our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

" 7. What is understood by the appearances of 
bread and wine ? 

" All that which of bread and wine are perceived 
by the senses ; as form, colour, taste, smell, etc. 

"9. Did Christ also give to the Apostles the 
power to change bread and wine into His Sacred 
Flesh and Blood ? 

" Yes ; He gave them that power with these words, 
( Do this for a commemoration of Me! 

" 10. To whom did this power pass from the 
Apostles ? 

" It passed from the Apostles to the Bishops and 
Priests. 



A Hideous Blasphemy. 263 

" 11. When do the Bishops and Priests exercise 
this power ? 

" At Mass, when they pronounce over the bread 
and wine these words, ' This is My Body, this is My 
Blood. ? 

" 12. Is there then, after the consecration, no 
longer bread and wine on the altar ? 

" No ; there is then on the altar the true Body, 
and the true Blood of Jesus Christ under the appear- 
ances of bread and wine. 

" This change is properly called l Transubstanti- 
ation] which means, a real conversion of the whole sub- 
stance of the bread into the substance of the Body of 
Christ our Lord, and of the substance of the wine 
into the substance of his blood. 

" 15. When the Priest breaks or divides the 
Sacred Host, does he also break the Body of Christ ? 

" No ; he breaks or divides the appearances only ; 
the Body of Christ itself is present in each part entire 
and living, in a true, though mysterious manner." 

This hideous blasphemy of Transubstantiation is 
even now taught in all the Romish schools, and 
colleges, and churches, and the Council of Trent 
declares that every one is bound to believe this 
blasphemous lie, under pain of eternal damnation ! 
It is certain that those who do believe it are in 
far greater danger of eternal damnation than those 
who do not. 

This monstrous doctrine blasphemes God, and 
insults the human intelligence, and belittles the 
great atonement made on Calvary for the sins of 
the world. 



264 Creating the Creator. 

The doctrine which requires such pious frauds, as 
above related, to gain it credence, is so gross an out- 
rage upon common sense, that no arguments are 
needed to disprove it. Its very statement is its refu- 
tation. But it has been a source of immense gain 
to the treasury of Rome. It raises the clergy to the 
dignity of being the Creators of their Creator, 
and hence the secret of its success. It is almost im- 
possible to quote the horrible impiety of Pope 
Urban, and Cardinal Biel, without shuddering. 

" The hands of the Pontiff," said Urban, in a 
great Roman Council, " are raised to an eminence 
granted to none of the angels, of Creating the Crea- 
tor of all Things, and of offering Him up for the 
sins of the world. This prerogative, as it elevates 
the Pope above angels, renders pontifical submis- 
sion to Kings an execration." To all this the Sacred 
Synod, with the utmost unanimity, responded 
Amen. Cardinal Biel extends this power to all 
priests. " He that created me," says the Cardinal, 
" gave me, if it be lawful to tell, To Create Him- 
self." This power, he declares, exalts the clergy 
not only above emperors and angels, but, which is a 
higher elevation, above the Lady Mary herself. 
" Her Ladyship," says the Cardinal, " once conceived 
the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world, 
while the priest daily calls into existence the same 
Deity:' 

And for what purpose is this greatest of all the 
" lying wonders " of popery insisted on by the 
Papacy? It is that in what they call the Holy 



u Lying Wonders " of the Mass. 265 

Mass, they may " crucify the Son of God afresh, and 
put Him to an open shame/' In the " Full Cate- 
chism of Catholic Religion " from which we have 
already quoted, we find (p. 266) the following 
questions and answers : 

" 26. What, then, is the Mass ? 

" The Mass is the perpetual Sacrifice of the New 
Law, in which Christ our Lord offers himself, by 
the hands of the priest, in an unbloody manner, 
under the appearance of bread and wine, to His 
Heavenly Father, as He once offered Himself in a 
bloody manner on the cross. 

" 27. What is the difference between the Sacrifice 
of the Mass, and the Sacrifice of the Cross ? 

" The Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially the same 
Sacrifice as that of the Cross ; the only difference is 
in the manner of offering. 

" 28. Why is the Sacrifice of the Mass the same 
Sacrifice as that of the Cross ? 

" Because in both it is the same who offers, and 
who is offered, namely, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

" 29. How is the manner of offering different in 
both? 

" On the Cross, Christ offered himself in a bloody 
manner ; but in the Mass He offers himself in an 
unbloody manner, whilst He renews the Sacrifice 
accomplished on the Cross, without suffering or 
dying any more. 

" 30. If Christ dies no more, how then can the 
Sacrifice which He consummated on the Cross, be 
renewed in the Mass ? 



266 A Monstrous Doctrine. 

" It is renewed because in the Mass Christ offers 
Himself really and truly under the emblems of the 
bloody death which He suffered on the Cross, that 
is, under the appearance of bread and wine." 

The wickedness of this doctrine of the Mass, and 
the manner in which it flatly contradicts the Word 
of God, will be seen by comparing it with the plain 
statements of Paul, the apostle of Christ. In Heb., 
chapter ix., Paul says : " Nor yet that He should 
offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into 
the holy place every year with the blood of others ; 
for then must he often have suffered since the foun- 
dation of the world : but now once in the end of 
the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the 
sacrifice of himself." " So Christ was Once offered 
to bear the sins of many." And in chapter x. Paul 
says : " Through the offering of the body of Jesus 
Christ Once For All." (ver. 10). " But this man — 
Christ — after he had offered One sacrifice for sins 
forever, sat down on the right hand of God." And 
again : "By One offering he hath perfected forever 
them that are sanctified." (ver. 14). 

And the infinite efficacy and sufficiency of that 
" one offering" on Calvary is the plain teaching of 
the New Testament, while the priests of Rome 
insultingly and wickedly deny the efficacy of that 
one offering of Christ as a sacrifice, by offering him 
up millions of times in a year. 

The absurdities connected with this monstrous 
doctrine of the Mass, make it to appear almost in- 
credible that any sane man or woman should treat 



The Papist Swallows His God. 267 

it with anything but ridicule or scorn. The poor 
superstitious papist is bound to believe that the 
Lord Jesus Christ, " whole and entire ; body and 
soul and divinity," is in each wafer, after the words 
of consecration by the priest, and yet, although mil- 
lions of wafers are thus changed into the " real 
Christ " each day, there is but one Christ. He is 
bound to believe that after the wafer has been 
broken by the priest, each part is the whole Christ ; 
and yet there is but one Christ. His reason, com- 
mon sense, and all the instincts of his intelligence 
tell him that what he eats of that wafer is a bit of 
baked dough ; but he is bound to believe that bit of 
dough is the " real blood and flesh and bones and 
divinity of Jesus Christ." He is bound to give 
the lie to all his bodily senses, sight, touch, smell, 
taste, etc., — all of which are given to us by our 
Creator to enable us to distinguish one thing from 
another, — in order to believe the priestly lie. And 
believing that what is placed on his tongue by the 
priest is " the real living body of Christ," he acts 
the part, and commits the crime of the cannibal by 
eating human flesh. And worse still : he falls 
down before the wafer, and worships it as God, and 
then swallows his God! And the priests of Rome, 
in this great, free country, dotted all over with 
schools, and colleges, dare to teach these horrible 
lies and blasphemies for the Gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ! 

We will close this chapter on " lying wonders" by 
presenting a few, out of hundreds, of the " lying 



268 The Wafer Becomes a Child. 

wonders" wrought by the wafer God, and devoutly 
believed by millions of the " faithful." 

The means by which the belief in the wafer God 
was established by artful monks and priests, were 
worthy of the doctrine itself. If we are to believe 
the wondrous legends that are even now to be 
found in the books read by the faithful, the most 
marvellous miracles were frequently wrought to 
testify to the reality of the transmutation effected by 
those to whom it was given " to create their Creator" 
Some of them, attested upon oath, swearing upon 
their sacred vestments, that they had seen the blood 
trickle in drops, as it does from a human body, 
from the consecrated wafer, held in the hands of 
the priests ; and others, that they had received far 
more ocular demonstration of the change of the 
bread into the real body of Christ, inasmuch as 
they had actually seen it thus changed into the 
Saviour himself, sitting in the form of a little boy upon 
the altar ! 

(1.) Petrus Cluniac reports that a certain peasant 
of Auvergne, a province in France, perceiving that 
his bees were likely to die, to prevent this mis- 
fortune was advised to keep the host, after commun- 
ion, and blow it into one of his hives ; and of a 
sudden all his bees came forth out of their hives, 
and ranking themselves in good order, lifted the 
host up from the ground, and carrying it upon their 
wings, placed it among the combs ! After this the 
man went out about his business, and on his return, 
found that his advice had succeeded contrary to his 



Bees Erect a Chapel of Wax. 269 

expectations, for all his bees were dead. Nay, 
when he lifted up the hive he saw that the host — 
or wafer — was turned into a fair child among the 
honey combs ! and being much astonished at this 
change, and seeing that this infant seemed to be 
dead, he took it in his hands, intending to bury it 
privately in the church, but when he came to do it, 
he found nothing in his hands, for the infant was 
vanished away. This thing happened in the county 
of Clermont, which, for this irreverence, was, awhile 
after, chastised by divers calamities, which so dis- 
peopled those parts that they became like a wilder- 
ness. From which it appears that bees honor the 
holy host divers ways, by lifting it from the earth, 
and carrying it into their hives, as it were, in proces- 
sion." 

(2) Csesarius reports, " That a certain woman, 
having received the communion unworthily, car- 
ried the host to her hives to enrich the stock of 
bees ; and afterwards, coming again to see her suc- 
cess, she perceived that the bees, acknowledging 
their God in the Sacrament, had, with admirable 
artifice, erected to him a chapel of wax, with its walls, 
windows, bells and vestry, and within it a chalice, 
in which they laid the holy body of the Lord Jesus. 
She could no longer conceal this wonder. The priest, 
being advised of it, came thither in procession, and 
he himself heard harmonious music which the bees 
made flying round about the Sacrament ; and, hav- 
ing taken it out, he brought it back to the church, 
certifying that he had seen and heard our Lord 
acknowledged and praised by these little creatures." 



270 Asses Kneel to the Wafer. 

(3) P. Orlandi, in his History of the Society, 
says, " That in the sixteenth century, within the 
Venetian territories, a priest carrying the holy host, 
without pomp or train, to a sick person, he met, out 
of the town, some asses going to their pasture, who, 
perceiving by a certain sentiment what it was which 
the priest carried, they divided themselves into two 
companies, on each side of the way, and fell on their 
knees; whereupon the priest, with his clerk, all 
amazed, passed between those peaceable beasts, 
which then rose up as if they would make a 
pompous show in honor of their Creator, followed 
the priest as far as the sick man's house, where they 
waited at the door until the priest came out from it, 
and did not leave him until he had given them his 
blessing. Father Simon Rodriguez, one of the first 
companions of St. Ignatius, who then travelled in 
Italy, informed himself carefully of this matter, 
which happened a little while before our first 
fathers came into Italy, and found that all hap- 
pened as has been told." 

(4) Nicholas de Laghi, in his book on the Mira- 
cles of the Holy Sacrament, says that, "A Jew, 
blaspheming the Holy Sacrament, dared to say that 
if the Christians would give it to his dog, he would 
eat it up without showing any regard to their God. 
The Christians being very angry at this outrageous 
speech, and trusting to Providence, had a mind to 
bring it to a trial ; so, spreading a napkin on the 
table, they laid on many hosts, among which one 
only was consecrated. The hungry dog being put 



A Mule Converts His Master. 271 

upon the same table, began to eat them all ; but 
coming to that which had been consecrated, with- 
out touching it he kneeled down before it, and after- 
wards fell with rage upon his master, catching him 
so closely by the nose that he bit it off with his 
teeth. The same which St. Matthew warns such 
like blasphemers, saying, ' Give not that which is 
holy unto dogs, lest they turn again and rend you.' " 
(5) "St. Anthony of Padua, disputing one day 
with one of the most obstinate heretics that denied 
the truth of the Holy Sacrament, drove him to 
such a plunge that he desired the saint to prove 
this truth by some miracle. St. Anthony accepted 
the condition and said that he would work miracles 
upon his mule. Upon this the heretic kept her 
three days without eating or drinking, and the third 
day the saint, having said mass, took up the host, 
and made him bring forth the hungry mule, to 
whom he spoke thus : ' In the name of the Lord I 
command thee to come and do reverence to thy 
Creator, and confound the malice of heretics.' While 
the saint made this discourse to the mule, the heretic 
sifted out oats to make the mule eat ; but the beast, 
having more understanding than his master, kneeled 
before the host, adoring it as its Creator and Lord. 
This miracle comforted all the faithful and enraged 
the heretics, except him that disputed with the 
saint, who was converted to the Catholic faith." 
(See Dowling's History of Romanism, where many 
authorities are given.) 



272 They Hate\the Truth. 

Who can doubt that the Pope is " the man of sin, 
the son of perdition .... whose coming is 
after the working of Satan, with all power and signs 
and lying wonders ; with all deceivableness of unright- 
eousness in them that perish, because they received 
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" 
(2 Thess., 2). 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Unmistakable Marks of Antichrist. 

In opening the word of God at 1 Timothy, chap- 
ter 4, we shall find again the " little horn" with a big 
mouth, " speaking great things against the Most 
High." Paul says : " Now the Spirit speaketh 
expressly that in the latter times some shall depart 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and 
doctrines of devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy, hav- 
ing their conscience seared with a hot iron ; forbid- 
ding to marry, and commanding to abstain from 
meats." 

Paul says : " Some shall depart from the faith." The 
Greek word here is apostesontai, and is the word from 
which we derive our word apostasy, and apostatize. 
The meaning is that they would apostatize from the 
truth of the Gospel. It does not mean that as indi- 
viduals they would have been true Christians, but 
that there would be a departure from the great doc- 
trines that constitute the Christian faith. The ways 
in which they would do this are immediately speci- 
fied, showing what the apostle meant by "departing 
from the faith." They would "give heed to seduc- 
ing spirits and doctrines of devils," etc. The word 
translated " depart from the faith " is the same 
that, in 2 Thess., 2 : 3, is translated, " a falling away ; 
an apostasy." The use of the word " some " here 
does not imply that the number would be small. 
The meaning is that certain persons would thus 

273 



274 Giving Heed to Seducing Spirits. 

" depart from the faith," or that there would be an 
apostasy of the kind here mentioned, in the last 
days. From this and the parallel passage in Thes- 
salonians it would seem there was to be an exten- 
sive apostasy. 

"Giving heed to seducing spirits" rather than to the 
Spirit of God. It would be a part of their system to 
yield to those spirits that led astray. This is literally 
true of the Church of Rome, as we have already 
seen. The spirits here referred to are any that lead 
astray, and the most obvious and natural construc- 
tion is to refer it to the agency of fallen spirits. 
Though it may refer to false teachers, yet, if so, it is 
rather to them as under the influence of fallen 
spirits. This may be applied, so far as the phrase- 
ology is concerned, to any false teaching, but it is 
evident that the apostle had a specific apostacy in 
view — some great system that would greatly corrupt 
the Christian faith ; and the words here should be 
understood with reference to that. It is true that in 
all ages men are prone to give heed to seducing 
spirits ; but the thing referred to here is some grand 
apostacy, in which the characteristics would be 
manifested, and the doctrines held, which the apos- 
tle proceeds immediately to specify. (See Barnes' 
Notes, on 1 Tim. 4 : 1.) 

"And doctrines of devils." In both the Old and 
New Testaments the demons are regarded as evil 
spirits. Among the ancient Pagans, or heathens, 
demons were middle powers between the sovereign 
gods and mortal men. Plato, who must be regarded 



Doctrines of Devils. 275 

as eminent authority on such a subject, declares : 
" Every demon is a middle being between God and 
mortal man." The demons were regarded as medi- 
ators and agents between the gods and men. Plato 
says : " God is not approached by man ; but all the 
commerce and intercourse between gods and men is 
by the mediation of demons." He says: " The demons 
are the interpreters and conveyors from the gods to 
men, and from men to the gods, of the supplications 
and sacrifices, on the one part, and of the com- 
mands and rewards of sacrifices on the other." 
Apuleius, a later philosopher, gives a similar descrip- 
tion : " Demons," says he, " are middle powers, by 
whom both our desires and deserts pass unto the 
gods ; they are carriers between men on earth and the 
gods in heaven : hence of prayers ; thence of gifts : 
they convey to and fro; hence petitions, thence 
supplies ; or they are interpreters on both sides, and 
bearers of salutations, for it would not be for the 
dignity of the celestial gods to take care of these 
things." The same Pagan philosopher declares : 
" All things are done by the will, power, and 
authority of the celestial gods ; but by the obedi- 
ence, service, and ministry of the demons." Of these 
demons there were accounted two kinds. One kind of 
demons were the souls of men deified, or canonized, 
after death. So Hesiod, one of the most ancient 
heathen philosophers, describing that happy race of 
men who lived in the first and golden age of the 
world, says that "After this generation were dead, 
they were by will of the great Jupiter promoted to 



276 Demon Worship. 



be demons, keepers of mortal men, observers of their 
good and evil works, givers of riches, etc.; and 
this, he says, is the royal honor they enjoy." Plato 
concurs with Hesiod, and asserts that, " He and 
many other poets speak excellently, who affirm that 
when good men die they attain great honor and 
dignity, and become demons." The same Plato, in 
another place, maintains that, " All those who die 
valiantly in war are of Hesiod's golden generation, 
and are made demons ; and we ought forever after- 
ward to serve and adore their sepulchres, as the 
sepulchres of demons. The same also we decree 
that when any of those who were judged excellently 
good in life, die either of old age, or in any other 
manner." 

There is another, a higher kind of demons, such 
as had never been the souls of men, nor ever dwelt 
in mortal bodies. Thus Apulius informs us, " There 
is another and higher kind of demons, who were 
always free from the encumbrances of the body, 
and out of this higher order Plato supposeth that 
guardians were appointed unto them." Ammonius, 
likewise in Plutarch, reckons two kinds of demons, 
" Souls separated from bodies, or such as had 
never inhabited bodies at all." These latter demons 
may correspond with angels, and the former with 
canonized saints. According to Plutarch, " It was a 
very ancient opinion that there are certain wicked 
and malignant demons, who envy good men, and 
endeavor to hinder them in the pursuit of virtue, 
but they should be partakers at last of greater hap- 



Papists are Demon Worshippers. 277 

piness than they enjoy. (See Newton on the Proph- 
ecies, p. 421 , etc.) 

In studying Roman Catholic history, and even 
the present practice of Romanists, we find that 
their worship of the Virgin Mary, and other canon- 
ized " saints," is in imitation of the belief and prac- 
tice of the pagans, and is strictly heathenish ! It cor- 
responds entirely with the reverance paid by the 
heathen to the spirits of heroes, or to demi-gods. 
The saints are supposed to have extraordinary 
power with God, and their aid is implored as inter- 
cessors. The following extracts from the catechism 
of Dr. James Butler, approved and recommended 
by Dr. Kendrick, " Bishop of Philadelphia," ex- 
presses the general views of Roman Catholics on 
this subject. 

Q. " How do Catholics distinguish between the 
honor they give to God, and the honor they give 
to the saints, when they pray to God and the saints ? 

A. " Of God alone they beg grace and mercy ; 
and of the saints they only ask the assistance of 
their prayers. (This is not true, as is proved in their 
" Mission Book," p. 161, etc., where Mary is in- 
voked as " the great Advocate of sinners ;" an office 
ascribed to Jesus Christ alone (1 John 2 : 2). She is 
invoked as " the refuge and salvation of every crea- 
ture." As " the solace of the weak, the comfort of the 
afflicted ; the sure asylum of all who are in danger ; 
the source of grace; the Mediatrix between God and 
man^ And in the same prayer to Mary are these 
words : " I render thee my humble homage, 0, great 



278 Mary Delivers from Hell. 

Queen, and I thank thee for all the graces which 
thou hast bestowed upon me until now, particularly 
for having delivered me from hell" etc. Here titles 
and offices which, in the holy scriptures, are 
ascribed to our Saviour alone, are ascribed, without 
the least authority, to Mary. Surely this is not to 
" only ask the assistance of their prayers ! ") 

Q. " Is it lawful to recommend ourselves to the 
saints ; and to ask their prayers? Yes : as it is law- 
ful, and a very pious practice to ask the prayers 
of our fellow creatures on earth, and to pray for 
them." In the " Prayer to be said before mass," 
the following language occurs : " In union with 
the holy church, and its minister, and invoking the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and all the 
angels and saints, we now offer the adorable sacri- 
fice of the mass/' etc. In the " General Confes- 
sion," it is said — " I confess to Almighty God, to the 
Blessed Mary, ever virgin ; to blessed Michael, the 
archangel ; to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy 
apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the saints, that I 
have sinned exceedingly," etc. So, also the Coun- 
cil of Trent declared, Session 25, Concerning the In- 
vocation of the Saints, that " it is good and useful to 
supplicate them, and to fly to their prayers, power, 
and aid ; but that they who deny that the saints are 
to be invoked, or who assert that they do not 
pray for men, or that their invocation of them is 
idolatry, hold an impious opinion." 

In the Romish Church the doctrine of exorcism is 
still held — implying a belief that evil spirits or 



Priests Casting Out Devils. 279 

demons have power over the human frame — a doc- 
trine which comes fairly under the meaning of the 
phrase here used — " doctrines of devils " — or demons. 
Thus in Butler's Catechism : 

Q. " What do you mean by exorcism ? 

A. " The rites and prayers instituted by the 
Church for the casting out of devils, or restraining 
them from hurting persons, disquieting places, or 
abusing any of God's creatures to our harm. 

Q. " Has Christ given his church any such 
power over devils ? 

A. "Yes; he has. (See St. Matt, x: 1; St. Mark 
iii : 15; St. Luke ix : 1.) And that this power was 
not to die with the apostles, nor to cease after 
the apostolic age, we learn from the perpetual prac- 
tice of the church, and the experience of all ages." 

Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, surrounded as 
he was by the monuments and memorials of heathen 
worship, and beholding everywhere the demoraliz- 
ing consequences and results of that worship, ex- 
horts the Christians in Corinth to "Flee from idola- 
try." In 1 Cor. x : 21, etc., he warns them of the 
danger to which they were exposed from the de- 
grading Gentile practices. " But I say that the 
things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to 
devils — demons — and not to God, and I would not 
that ye should have fellowship with devils" — 
demons. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and 
the cup of devils : ye cannot be partakers of the 
Lord's table, and the table of " devils." The apostle 
is here showing the great inconsistency of the Chris- 



280 Romanists are Idolaters. 

tian worship with the idolatrous worship practiced 
by the heathens. The heathens ivorshipped the spirits 
of departed persons; and the apostle declares that 
such worship is utterly inconsistent with the true 
worship of Christ. 

But notwithstanding the repeated warning of 
God's Word to " Flee from idolatry " — and all other 
heathen practices — the Council of Trent, the highest 
authority in the Romish Church, and whose decrees 
are binding on all Romanists throughout the world, 
declares that " it is good and useful " to do what 
God warns men not to do ; and so this heathen 
demon-worship is practiced by all Romanists 
throughout the world, and all the bishops and 
priests of the Romish Church are encouraging 
among their people the grossest idolatry. 

And who are the demons — or canonized saints — 
whom the papists everywhere worship ? Are they 
the truly saintly, whose lives were luminous with 
purity of life, and christian charity and gentleness, 
and mercy; and who lived to bless their fellow 
men? Not at all. The standard of saintliness in 
the Church of Rome is not, and never was, holiness 
towards God; but slavish submission to the Pope, 
and the Church ! Savonarola ; John Huss, of Bohe- 
mia ; Jerome, of Prague ; Archbishop Cranmer ; 
Bishops Latimer, and Ridley ; the godly Albigenses, 
and Waldenses, and tens of thousands of others, 
were persecuted, tortured, and cruelly murdered, 
not because they were immoral, or guilty of any 
crime against God or man ; but because they wor- 



Dr. Southey on St. Dominic. 281 

shipped God through Jesus Christ, and in the 
manner and spirit taught in the Gospels, and re- 
fused to acknowledge the false claims and teachings 
of the Popes of Rome, whom they believed to be 
Antichrist ! 

Those whom the bishops and priests of Rome re- 
gard as saints, and who have been canonized, 
and who are now worshipped and invoked as holy 
intercessors in heaven, are those whose most shin- 
ing virtues consisted in kissing the Pope's toe, 
wearing his collar, and slavishly submitting to 
his authority. Many of these so-called saints were 
the vilest of mankind ! We have already seen how 
highly the Romanists esteem, and how reverently 
they worship, the " holy St. Dominic ;" and how 
greatly he is beloved in heaven by the Virgin 
Mary, and the other saints ; and we have seen the 
wonderful miracles ascribed to him. And yet this 
Saint Dominic exceeded even Nero in his thirst for 
human blood, and in his wholesale butchery of his 
fellow beings, both men and women. Dr. Robert 
Southey, poet-laureate of England, in an able arti- 
cle on the Inquisition, says this cruel persecutor — 
who was the first inquisitor-general of the horrible 
tribunal called the Holy Inquisition — " Being em- 
ployed/' says Dr. Southey, " against the Albigenses, 
St. Dominic invented the Inquisition to accelerate 
the effect of his sermons. His invention was readily 
approved at Rome, and he himself nominated in- 
quisitor-general. The painful detail of his crimes 
may well be spared ; suffice it to say that in one day 



282 The Saintly Fiend. 

four-score persons were beheaded, and four hun- 
dred burnt alive by this man's order and in his 
sight. St. Dominic is the only saint in whom no 
solitary speck of goodness can be discovered. To 
impose privations and pain was the pleasure of his 
unnatural heart, and cruelty in him was an ap- 
petite and a passion. No other human being has 
ever been the occasion of so much misery. The 
few traits of character that can be gleaned from the 
lying volumes of his biographers are all of the 
darkest colors. If his disciples have preserved few 
personal facts concerning their master, they have 
made ample amends in the catalogue of his miracles. 
Let the reader have patience to peruse a few of 
those tales, not copied from Protestant — and there- 
fore suspected — authors ; but from the Dominican 
historians themselves, and every one of them au- 
thorized by the Inquisition." {Quarterly Review for 
December, 1811.) 

We have already presented some of the " lying 
wonders " connected with Dominic ; we will simply 
add the following : 

Among the vast multitude of their ridiculous, and 
fabulous stories, these disciples of Dominic relate 
that the mother of their master dreamed that she 
brought forth a dog, holding a burning torch in 
its mouth, wherewith he fired the world. Earth- 
quakes and meteors announced his nativity to the 
earth and the air, and two or three suns and moons 
extraordinary were hung out for an illumination 
in heaven ! The Virgin Mary received him in her 



Ants and Wasps Help St. Dominic. 283 

arms as he sprung to birth ! When a sucking babe, 
he regularly observed fast days ; and would get out 
of bed, and lie upon the ground as a penance ! His 
manhood was as portentous as his infancy. He fed 
multitudes miraculously, and performed the miracle 
of Cana with great success ! Once, when he fell 
in with a troop of pilgrims, of different countries, 
the curse which had been inflicted at Babel was 
suspended for him, and they all were enabled to 
speak one language ! Travelling with a single com- 
panion, he entered a monastery, in a lonely place, 
to pass the night ; he awoke at matins, and hearing 
yells and lamentations instead of prayers, went out 
and discovered that he was among a brotherhood 
of devils ! Dominic punished them upon the spot 
with a cruel sermon, and then returned to rest. At 
morning the convent had disappeared, and he and 
his comrade found themselves in a wilderness ! He 
had one day an obstinate battle with the flesh : the 
quarrel took place in a woods ; and finding it neces- 
sary to call in help, he stripped himself and com- 
manded the ants and the wasps to come to his 
assistance : even against these auxiliaries the con- 
test was continued for three hours before the soul 
could win the victory ! (Dowling's History.) This 
bigotted and blood-thirsty tyrant, and wholesale 
butcher of his fellow beings, whose horrible cruel- 
ties and crimes entitle him to the everlasting 
hatred and scorn of his fellow-men, stands high 
in the calender of Romish saints, simply because 
his terrible crimes were committed in the interest 
of the Pope, and the Church ! 



284 Loyola and the Jesuits. 

Saint Ignatius Loyola is another of the canon- 
ized saints — or demons — invocated, and worshipped 
by the papists all over the world. As Dominic 
invented the bloody Inquisition — the very mention 
of which causes men to shudder even now — so Igna- 
tius Loyola was the originator of the order of the 
Jesuits, and their first Vicar-General. This order — 
blasphemously calling itself " The Society of Jesus" 
— was originated soon after Luther's Reformation, 
in Germany, and for the express purpose of extir- 
minating Protestantism, and undoing the work of the 
Reformation throughout the world, as well as for the 
purpose of more firmly establishing monarchism, 
and defeating all tendencies toward civil and relig- 
ious liberty. Both the principles and purposes of 
this order are most infamous, and their effects in 
society most injurious. Lying, fraud, perjury, for- 
gery, rebellion, treason and murder, are justifiable 
and meritorious, according to their principles and 
teaching, if done for the good of the Church, or the 
accomplishment of their objects. All this has been 
acknowledged, over and over again, by Roman Cath- 
olic writers. They have meddled with every govern- 
ment in Christendom, and have been expelled from 
every nation as public enemies, and disturbers of 
the peace. They call themselves " Soldiers of the 
Church," and yet have rebelled against the Church, 
and have actually murdered two at least of their 
Popes — Clement XIII. and Clement XIV., — the 
former for having expressed his determination to 
suppress their order, and the latter for doing it. (See 



Loyola Greater Than Christ. 285 

" Foot-Prints of the Jesuits," by R. W. Thompson, 
1894). And yet the infamous founder of this in- 
iquitous " Society of Jesus" (!) is extolled and glori- 
fied, by the papists, and worshipped as a holy and 
powerful saint in Heaven. They assign to him the 
performance of more miracles than Christ, even 
while Loyola was still on earth, and do not hesitate 
to record that he not onty restored the dead to life, 
but, in one conspicuous case, gave life to a child born 
dead ! What Paul affirmed of the Gentiles may be 
as truly affirmed of the papists, even of our own day 
— " The things which the — Papists — sacrifice, they 
sacrifice to devils and not to God." 

As the ancient pagans worshipped many thou- 
sands of demons, so Romish writers acknowledge 
that between twenty thousand and thirty thousand 
saints are on their Calendar; and these are the 
" devils" — or demons — whom the papists worship. 
Not only is this the grossest idolatry, but it is also 
blasphemy, for they endow these saints with divine 
attributes ; certainly with the attribute of omnipre- 
sence, which is an attribute that belongs to God 
alone. In America, in Ireland, in Australia and in 
all parts of the world, Romanists are offering up 
their prayers to Mary and the saints ; and for their 
prayers to be heard by them they must be omnipre- 
sent. But the entire system of popery is a system of 
blasphemy against our God, and against His Christ. 
This multiplying of mediators, and intercessors, 
represents our Saviour as hard-hearted, and hard to 
be moved with tenderness and sympathy toward our 



286 Christ Dishonored. 

sinful race. Is He so steel-clad, and stern, and has 
so little regard for our sinful race, that it is neces- 
sary that thousands of saints must present their 
petitions to him in behalf of a poor sinner before 
He can be induced to extend a helping hand ! 0, 
what a misrepresentation of our adorable Christ and 
Lord ! 0, the gross impertinence of the Romish 
priests to push these thousands of demons in between 
the helpless soul and his Almighty, and all-loving 
Saviour ! Christ himself says to each anxious and 
troubled soul — " Come unto Me, all ye that are 
weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
Christ says — " I am the good shepherd : the good 
shepherd giveth his life for his sheep." And is it 
possible that this tender Shepherd, who was willing 
to die for his sheep — he loves them so — needs to be 
invoked and entreated, and coaxed, before he will 
permit his sympathy to go out to one poor, sick 
lamb, that needs the Shepherd's care ? 

As the Romanists have " another gospel," so they 
have another Christ. Rev, " Father Chiniquy" — one 
of the best and noblest men now living, and very 
aged — says : " I must confess further, that though I 
was bound to believe in the existence of Christ in 
heaven, and was invited by my church to worship 
him as my Saviour and my God, I had, as every 
Roman Catholic has, more confidence, faith, and 
love towards the Christ which I had created with a few 
words of my lips, than towards the Christ of heaven. 

" My Church told me every day of my life and I 
had to believe and preach it, that though the Christ 



Their Christ a Tyrant 287 

of heaven was my Saviour, He was angry against 
me on account of my sins ; that He was constantly 
disposed to punish me according to His terrible jus- 
tice ; that he was armed with lightning aud thunder 
to crush me ; and that were it not for his mother, 
who day and night was interceding for me, I should 
be cast into that hell which my sins had so richly 
deserved. All the theologians, with Ligouri at their 
head, whose writings I was earnestly studying, and 
which had received the approbation of infallible 
popes, persuaded me that it was Mary whom I had to 
thank and bless, if I had not yet been punished as 
I deserved. Not only had I to believe this doctrine, 
but I had to preach it to the people. The result 
was for me, as it was for every Roman Catholic, that 
my heart was really chilled, and I was filled with ter- 
ror every time I looked to the Christ of heaven 
through the lights and teachings of my Church. 
He could not, as I believed, look to me except with 
an angry face ; He could not stretch out his hand 
toward me but to crush me unless His merciful 
mother, or some other mighty saint interposed their 
saving supplications to appease his just indignation. 
When I was praying to that Christ of the Church of 
Rome, my mind was constantly perplexed about the 
choice I should make of some powerful protector, 
whose influence could get me a favorable hearing 
from my irritated Saviour. 

" Besides this, I was told, and I had to believe it, 
that the Christ of heaven was a mighty monarch — 
a most glorious King — surrounded by an innumer- 



288 Jesus Christ Alone. 

able host of servants, officers, and friends, and that, 
as it would not do for a poor rebel to present him- 
self before his irritated King to get his pardon — but 
he must address himself to some of his most influ- 
ential courtiers, or to his beloved mother, to whom 
nothing can be refused — that they might plead his 
cause ; so I believed that it was better for me not 
to speak myself to Jesus Christ, but to look for some 
one who would speak for me. In fact," says Father 
Chiniquy, " the Roman Catholics have no other 
Saviour to whom thej^ can betake themselves than 
the one made by the consecration of the wafer" — 
(Chiniquy's " Fifty Years In The Church of Rome/' 
page 168, etc.) 

How very different from all this heathen teaching 
of Rome, is the teaching of Jesus Christ and his apos- 
tles ! Paul says, (1 Cor. viii.) " For though there 
be that we called gods, whether in heaven or in 
earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many), as 
with the Romanists ; but to us there is but one God, 
and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ." " There 
is one God, and one mediator between God and man, 
the man Christ Jesus." And our Saviour himself 
declares : " I am the way, the truth, and the life, 
and no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." 
Not by Mary, or by this, that, or the other " saint ;" 
but by Christ alone. And Christ, to show his willing- 
ness to have us come directly to Him, says : " Him 
that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." 
But Rome worships departed spirits — demons — be- 
cause Rome is Antichrist 



Popery and Bhoodism. 289 

The following letter, written by the Rev. Eugenio 
Kincaid, a Baptist Missionary in Burmah, will suf- 
fice to show how like Bhoodism is the religion of the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

"Bhoodism," says Mr. Kincaid, " prevails over all 
Burmah, Siam, the Shan Principalities, and about 
one-third of the Chinese empire. Gaudama was the 
last Bhood, or the last manifestation of Bhood, and his 
relics and images are the objects of supreme adora- 
tion over all Bhoodish countries. In passing through 
the great cities of Burmah, the traveler is struck 
with the number and grandeur of the temples, 
pagodas, and monasteries, as also with the number 
of idols, and shaven-headed priests. Pagodas are 
solid structures of masonry, and are worshipped 
because within their bare walls are deposited images 
or relics of Gaudama. The temples are dedicated to 
the worship of Gaudama ; in them thrones are 
erected, on which massive images of Gaudama are 
placed ; in some of the larger temples are the im- 
ages of five hundred primitive disciples who were 
canonized about the time, or soon after the death of 
Gaudama. 

" The monasteries are the abodes of the priests, and 
the depositories of the sacred books, with their end- 
less scholia and commentaries. These monasteries 
are the schools and colleges of the empire. They 
are open to all the boys of the empire — rich and 
poor. No provision is made for the education of 
girls. Priests are monks, as monasticism is universal ; 
they take the vow of poverty and celibacy; their 



290 Heathenism in the United States. 

heads are shaved, and without turbans, and dressed 
in robes of yellow cloth, they retire from society, or, 
in the language of their order, retire to the wilder- 
ness. Henceforth they are addressed as lords, or 
saints, and over the entire population they exert a 
despotic influence. Priests, dead and alive, are wor- 
shipped the same as idols and pagodas, because they 
are saints, and have extraordinary merit. 

"All devout Bhoodists, whether priests or people, 
male or female, use a string of beads, or rosary, in the 
recitation of their prayers, and their prayers are in 
the unknown tongue, called Pali, a language that 
has ceased to be spoken for many hundred years, 
and that was never the vernacular of Burmah. The 
frequent repetition of prayers with the rosary, fast- 
ing, and making offerings to the images, are merito- 
rious deeds. Celibacy and voluntary poverty are 
regarded as evidence of the most exalted piety. To 
build temples, pagodas, and monasteries, and pur- 
chase idols, are meritorious acts. The burning of 
wax tapers and candles of various colors, both day 
and night, around the shrines of Gaudama, is uni- 
versal in Bhoodist countries, and is taught to be 
highly meritorious. Social prayer is unknown — 
each one prays apart, and making various prostra- 
tions before the images, deposits upon the altar 
offerings of fruit and flowers. 

"The priests are required to fast every day after the 
sun has passed the meridian till the next morning. 
Besides this, there is a great fast once a year, con- 
tinuing four or five weeks, in which all the people 



An Awful Parallel. 291 



are supposed to live entirely on vegetables and fruits. 
During this great fast the priests retire from their 
monasteries, and live in temporary booths, or tents, 
and are supposed to give themselves more exclu- 
sively to an ascetic life. At a certain time in the 
year, the priests have a practice of confessing and 
exorcising each other. This takes place in a small 
building erected for the purpose over running water. 

" There are various grades of rank in the priest- 
hood, and the most unequivocal submission of the 
lower to the higher orders is required. Tha-tha-na- 
bing is the title of the priest who sits on the high- 
est ecclesiastical throne in the empire (and thus 
corresponds to the Pope among Romanists.) He is 
Primate or Lord Archbishop of the realm, receives 
his appointment from the King, and from this Tha- 
tha-na-bing (or Pope) emanate all other ecclesiasti- 
cal appointments in the kingdom and its tributary 
principalities. He lives in a monastery built and 
furnished by the King, which is as splendid as gold 
can make it. 

" I should observe that intelligent, learned Bhood- 
ists (like some Romanists) deny that they worship 
the images of Gaudama, but only venerate them as 
objects that remind them of Gaudama, the only 
object of supreme adoration — but the number of 
Bhoodists who make this distinction is very small. 

" Often/' says Mr. Kincaid, " when standing in a 
great Burman temple, and looking around upon a 
thousand worshippers prostrating themselves before 
images, surrounded by wax candles, uttering prayers 



292 Christianized Heathenism. 

in a dead language, each one with a rosary in his 
hand, and the priests with long, flowing robes and 
shaven heads, I have thought of what I have seen in 
the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Montreal, Canada, 
and it has required but a very small stretch of the 
imagination to suppose myself transported to the 
opposite side of the globe, looking not upon the 
ceremonies of an acknowledged heathen temple, but 
upon the Christianized heathenism of Rome." 

And this " Christianized heathenism of Rome " is 
firmly planted on the free soil of this great Repub- 
lic ; and all the subtle, and cunning, and unscrupu- 
lous agents of the Pope are at work to cause this 
" Christianized heathenism of Rome " to supplant 
the pure religion of Jesus and the Bible, and to 
undo the great achievements of the framers of our 
glorious Constitution ; of the patriotism that has 
maintained it for more than one hundred years ; 
and of the heroism that has defended it in many 
a bloody conflict. It is for this that cardinals, and 
bishops, and priests are plotting. It is for this the 
Jesuits are sapping and mining our institutions by 
night and by day. It is for this the Romish Church 
is multiplying the Parochial schools in which the 
young are being trained in treason to our govern- 
ment and laws, and in hatred of all those things 
that have made our country great. It is for this the 
priests are bringing thousands of ignorant and 
superstitious Romanists from distant lands to give 
them the balance of power through the ballot box ; 
and it is for this that tens of thousands of foreign 



Protestants! Wake Up / 293 

Romanists in this country are organizing them- 
selves into military companies, and who even now 
boast of their great military power. The past his- 
tory, and the present teachings and practices of the 
Church of Rome amply prove that she has given 
heed to " seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A Chapter of Infallible Falsehoods. 

The Prophet Daniel prophesied that the Little 
Horn of the fourth beast would have " a mouth," 
and that he would " speak great things against the 
Most High ;" and in the chapter now before us (1 
Tim. iv.) Paul declares that another characteristic 
or mark of Antichrist would be that he would be 
given to " speaking lies in hypocracy ;" thus indi- 
cating one of the ways in which the Little Horn 
would speak great words against the Most High — it 
would be by " speaking lies ;" and surely no one 
can speak against God without speaking lies. It is 
plain then that the great apostasy of the latter times 
was to prevail through the hypocrisy of liars " hav- 
ing their conscience seared with a hot iron ;" and 
has not the idolatry of the Church of Rome, and the 
worship of the dead, particularly, been diffused and 
advanced in the world by such instruments and 
agents, who have (Rom. 1 : 25) " changed the truth 
of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the 
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for- 
ever ?" It is impossible to relate or enumerate all 
the various falsehoods which have been invented 
and propagated for this purpose ; the fabulous books, 
forged under the names of apostles, saints, and mar- 
tyrs ; the fabulous legends of their lives, actions, 
sufferings, and deaths; the fabulous miracles as- 
cribed to their sepulchres, bones, and other relics ; 

294 



Better Foundations. 295 

the fabulous dreams and revelations, visions, and 
apparitions of the dead to the living, some of which 
we have already recorded ; and even the fabulous 
saints, who never existed but in the imagination of 
their worshippers. And all these stories, or " lies" 
as Paul plainly calls them, the monks, the priests, 
and the bishops of the Church have imposed upon 
mankind, it is difficult to say whether with greater 
artifice or cruelty, with greater confidence or hypoc- 
risy and pretended sanctity, a more hardened face 
or a more hardened conscience. " The history of the 
Church," says Pascal, " is the history of truth ; but as 
written by bigoted papists it is rather the history of 
lies. So well does this prophecy coincide with the 
preceding one, that the coming of the man of sin 
should be after the working of Satan, with all power 
and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceiv- 
ableness of unrighteousness." 

An intelligent and candid examination of the 
history, statements, doctrines, practices, claims, and 
results of the Roman Catholic Church will prove 
conclusively, that the whole superstructure of the 
Church is a stupendous system of lying, from the 
foundation to the top stone. 

The very first stone in the foundation of this vast 
superstructure is the claim that Peter, the apostle of 
Christ, was the first Pope of Rome, and that the 
popes are the successors of Peter by the appointment 
of Jesus Christ. And this claim is what Paul calls 
a " lie, spoken in hypocrisy." It is a claim that 
contradicts the word of God, the facts of history, and 
the common sense of men. 



296 Convenient Anathemas. 

In the Decree of Infallibility, passed July 18, 
1870, Pope Pius IX. says : " For none can doubt, 
and it is known to all ages, that the holy and blessed 
Peter, the Prince and Chief of the Apostles, the Pil- 
lar of the faith, and Foundation of the Catholic 
Church, received the Keys of the Kingdom from 
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of 
mankind, and lives, presides, and judges to this day, 
and always in his successors, the Bishops of the Holy 
See of Rome, which was founded by him and conse- 
crated by his blood," etc. (Chapter 2.) 

" If any one, therefore, shall say that Blessed 
Peter, the apostle, was not appointed the Prince of 
all the apostles, and the Visible Head of the whole 
Church militant, or that the same directly and im- 
mediately received from the same our Lord Jesus 
Christ a primacy of honor only, and not of true and 
proper jurisdiction, Let Him Be Anathema." 

" If, then, any should deny that it is by the insti- 
tution of Christ, the Lord, or by Divine right, that 
Blessed Peter should have a perpetual line of suc- 
cessors in the primacy over the Universal Church, 
or that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of Blessed 
Peter in this primacy, Let Him Be Anathema." 

This arrogant claim is utterly opposed to the 
Word of God, which says : " Paul, an apostle of 
Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which 
are in Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. 

Ye are no mere strangers and foreigners, 

but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
hold of God, and are built upon the foundation of the 



Peter not the First Pope. 297 

apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the 
chief corner stone." (Eph. 2 : 19-21.) 

" Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
which is Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. 3 : 11.) 

"And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, 
and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the 
Lamb" (Rev. 21 : 14.) In these texts of scripture 
there is no hint of " the primacy of blessed Peter," 
or of any one else, except our Lord Jesus Christ. 
The Church of Rome in putting forth such a claim 
ought to have been prepared to substantiate the 
claim with proofs the most undoubted, and clear to 
every mind. Had she claimed Paul as being the 
first Pope of Rome, she would have had a better 
case, so far, at least, as to be able to show most 
clearly that Paul actually lived in Rome, while 
there is no proof whatever that Peter was ever in Rome, 
and there is abundance of proof to the contrary. A full 
presentation of all that has been written on this 
subject would require a volume: we can present 
only a few facts. 

Had the Lord Jesus Christ made Peter the first 
Pope of Rome, to be followed by a long line of in- 
fallible successors, He certainly would have made 
the fact so plain in the scriptures that the humblest 
readers of his Word would understand the fact, and 
especially if he had made acceptance of that doctrine 
" necessary to salvation," and denounced an ana- 
thema, or eternal damnation, against all who should 
reject it. And as the Romish Church so positively 
makes this claim she is bound to prove it from the 



298 Peter Was Never in Rome. 

plain declarations of the holy scriptures, which she 
does not, and dare not attempt ; for she well knows 
there is no mention whatever in the New Testament 
that Peter was ever in Rome ; and hence Scaliger, 
Salmasius, Spanheim, Adam Clarke, and many other 
learned writers have denied that he ever visited that 
city. The utter silence of the scriptures as to Peter 
having been appointed pope, or as to his ever being 
in Rome, is unaccountable, had it been true. We 
know that Paul was in Rome, and that " he dwelt 
two whole years in his own hired house." (Acts. 
28 : 30.) Although Paul wrote five or six of his 
Epistles while a resident in Rome, and sent kind 
remembrances to many Christian friends and fellow- 
workers, yet he never once mentions Pope' Peter, 
although the Romanists insist that he was pope at 
that time. In the closing part of Paul's Epistle to 
the Romans he sends affectionate greetings to be- 
tween twenty and thirty persons, whom he mentions 
by name, but says not one word about Peter, an 
omission and mark of disrespect, or at least of 
neglect, that does not seem possible, had Peter been 
the " Prince of Apostles/' and the " Vicar of Jesus 
Christ," and the " Visible Head of the Church," as 
the Romanists declare that he was. 

In writing to the Christians in Rome, (Chap. 
1 : 11.) Paul says : " I long to see you, that I may 
impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye 
may be established." This would look like arro- 
gance in Paul, if he knew that the infallible Pope 
Peter was in Rome, and as the holy and " Visible 



Was Peter Infallible ? 299 

Head of the Church " must have been far more 
competent to impart " spiritual gifts " than himself, 
who was only one of the " inferior clergy." As Paul 
was the "Apostle of the Gentiles," he felt that he 
was especially called of God to do pioneer work, 
and in his letter to the Romans, (Chap. xv. : 20) he 
says : " So have I strived to preach the Gospel, not 
where Christ was named, lest I should build upon 
another man's foundation," and surely had Peter 
been the founder, and organizer, and infallible Pope 
of Rome, he, of course, was every way competent to 
do for the Christians, and sinners too, of Rome, all 
that was needed to be done for them ; and for Paul 
to have gone there to labor he would have violated 
his own rule — not " to build upon another man's foun- 
dation" It was clearly because Paul knew that Peter 
was not in Rome, that he proposed to go there. No 
doubt the Christian Church in Rome resulted from 
the great revival in Jerusalem at Pentecost, many 
having come to Rome from Jerusalem bringing the 
blessed news of salvation with them. 

If Peter was the first Pope of Rome he never 
knew it ; nor did any of the other apostles. This is 
the humble way in which he speaks of himself : — 
" Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ 
to them that have obtained like precious faith." 
(2 Pet. 1 : 1.) Compare this with the inflated, and 
pompous style in which Pope Gregory speaks of 
himself in his Encyclical Letter, in 1832 — " Ency- 
clical Letter of our Most Holy Father, Pope Gre- 
gory, the sixteenth of the name ; addressed to all 



300 Successors of the Lying Peter. 

Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops." 
Can we imagine the humble fisherman, Peter, writ- 
ing in that style? From what we know of the 
character and life of Peter, it is not easy to conceive 
that our Saviour would have chosen him especially 
from among the apostles to be his special repre- 
sentative, and the first of a long line of infallible 
popes, when there were other members of the apos- 
tolic college far more consistent than he, and far 
more worthy. Noble, and warmhearted, and gen- 
erous, and full of zeal for Christ, as Peter was, he 
was the most inconsistent, and blundering of the 
whole company, and the most ready to commit sin. 
On one occasion his Divine Master had to rebuke 
him sharply, saying : " Get thee behind me, Satan, 
for thou savorest not the things that be of God ; but 
the things that be of men." He nobly confessed his 
Lord, and the Master honored him for it ; but he 
shamefully denied his Lord, even with lying, and 
cursing, and swearing. If the popes of Rome are the 
" successors of Peter/ 7 it is of the lying, and cursing 
Peter; and not of the confessing Peter; nor of the 
Peter that " went out, and wept bitterly." 

In the Council held in Jerusalem, as recorded 
in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts, in regard to the 
matter of circumcision, although Peter was present 
he was not there as pope; nor did he in any way 
attempt to take precedence of his brother apostles. 
If either of the apostles was pope at that Council 
it was James, for it was he who summed up the 
matter, and pronounced his decision : he said, " My 



God's Order vs. The Pope's. 301 

sentence is" etc. And his sentence prevailed. Did 
any one ever hear, or read, of a priest or bishop 
of the Romish Church, in a solemn council, ignore 
the presence of the pope, assume his prerogative, 
and say, " My sentence is" so and so ? It is certain 
that none of the apostles knew anything of Peter 
being pope. 

It is worthy of consideration in this brief discus- 
sion, that God himself has established the order of 
the Christian ministry, as we read in 1 Cor. xii : 28. 
" God hath set some in the church ; First apostles ; 
secondarily, prophets ; thirdly, teachers ; after that " 
etc. Here we see plainly that the apostolic office 
was the highest in the church ; if therefore the 
Church of Rome, or any other, sets a pope above an 
apostle, then that church, by setting aside the Divine 
arrangement for one of its own, shows itself to be 
Antichrist. And this is exactly what the Romish 
Church presumes to do. In the " Full Catechism 
of Catholic Religion ; " published under the auspices 
of Cardinal Wiseman, and Archbishop Hughes, 
of New York, a list of all the popes is given, and in 
the following order : 

" St. Peter at Rome, from 42. 

St. Linus 67. 

St. Cletus (Anacletus) . — 

St. Clement .... 92. 

St. Evaristus .... 100." 
Each of these, in his turn, therefore, was the 
Vicar of Christ upon earth, and as such, the 
Supreme Visible Head of the Church. It is gener- 



302 The Apostle John Dishonored. 

ally agreed among biblical scholars that the Apos- 
tle John outlived Peter about thirty years, and died 
about the year A. D. 100 ; having been the contem- 
porary of Linus, Cletus, and Clement, at least. If, 
then, Peter was the Supreme Head of the Church, 
and Linus was his successor in the supremacy, 
then, of course, the inspired Apostle John must 
have been inferior to Linus in rank and dignity ; 
and subject to him in precisely the same way as 
Roman Catholic Bishops are subject to the Pope. 

If Peter was the first Pope of Rome, as the Papists 
assume, then Linus was ordained Bishop by Peter, 
with the full understanding that Linus was to be 
his successor in the popedom, and that from him 
— Linus — would proceed all the long succession of 
infallible popes throughout the coming centuries. 
And yet the apostle John was still living — John, 
the apostle " whom Jesus loved ; " who " leaned on 
the Saviour's bosom ; " to whom Jesus Christ, in the 
agonies of his dying hour, committed his beloved 
mother. John, who had shared with him the spe- 
cial honor of witnessing the glorious mysteries of 
the Transfiguration. John, who had been Peter's 
truest friend, and intimate associate, and who had 
shared with him the special honors conferred by 
Christ ; for we read : " Jesus taketh Peter, James, 
John his brother, and bringeth them up into an 
high mountain apart; and was transfigured before 
theni." "And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go 
and prepare us the passover, that we may eat." 
And in the Acts we read (Acts viii : 14). " They 



A Strong Argument. 303 

sent unto them Peter and John/' on a special 
mission, etc. To believe that pope Peter would thus 
pass by this highly honored and inspired Apostle 
John, and appoint to the highest office in the Chris- 
tian Church a man who was neither inspired, nor 
an apostle ; and a man whose name is not once 
mentioned in the Scriptures, is too absurd for any 
intelligent man to believe. 

On this point a very interesting and instructive 
writer has this to say: "Testimony higher and 
more reliable than man's, aids our investigation, 
and fixes our judgment, as will be fully demonstra- 
ted by the following facts which challenge the scru- 
tiny of the most zealous advocate of the doctrine 
of papal supremacy. Let us see. The Apostolic 
age was drawing to its close. More than a quarter 
of a century had elapsed since James, and Peter, 
and Paul, and all those who had constituted the 
College of the Apostles, had passed away. Of the 
original members of this order, St. John alone re- 
mained, an exile in the Isle of Patmos; whilst, 
according to Romanists, the successors of Peter, as 
the Vicars of Christ, taught the whole Church from 
Rome. At this critical juncture, (about A. D. 96) it 
had become necessary to communicate to the 
Church those startling " Revelations " of the mys- 
teries of the Kingdom of Christ, which, embracing 
a review of things that were, and the prophetic 
announcement of things that were to be thereafter, 
(Rev. 1 : 19), were to close forever the Sacred Canon 
of the Christian Scriptures. But in choosing the 



304 God Chose the Apostle John. 

channel of the solemn and important communica- 
tion between Himself and His Church, God took no 
notice whatever of the successor of Peter. f He sent 
and signified it by his angel unto his servant John/ 
(Rev. 1 : 1), the last venerable relic of the inspired 
Apostolic Twelve. 

" These Revelations, as a whole, were written for 
the instruction of the Church at large, the Church of 
Rome included. If the Book of Revelation was in- 
spired by God, and was intended for the instruction 
of the Roman Catholic Church, why was the Roman 
Pontiff not chosen to be the bearer of the mysterious 
truths and prophesies therein contained ? Whether 
it is true or not that Peter had chosen and ordained 
Linus as his successor in the See of Rome — con- 
sidered as a mere historical fact — does not even 
merit discussion. But when it is contended that he 
designed to transmit (or knew that he was trans- 
mitting) to the latter, and thus to all in the line of 
succession, a universal supremacy in teaching and 
governing the Church, it is sufficient to reply that 
God refused emphatically to sanction any such 
design or arrangement, and signified that refusal by 
completely ignoring Clement I., the third in the suc- 
cession from Peter, and that, too, when most import- 
ant communications were to be made to the Church, 
and that therefore the latter could not have been, 
by the fact of such succession, either indispensable 
in teaching, or supreme in governing. Or to put 
the case in another form, either Clement was an 
Apostle in the same sense, and to the same purpose 
as St. John, or he was not. If he was not, then the 



God Ignores the Pope. 305 

successors of St. Peter had not inherited from him 
those gifts peculiar to the Apostolic Order, and the 
act of God in the case under consideration was con- 
sistent with the order and the purpose of the ar- 
rangement expressed in the words : " God hath set 
some in the Church, first, Apostles" etc. If he was, 
then Romanists must explain God's unequivocal 
preference for St. John above Clement, and must 
reconcile it w T ith the doctrine that the latter was the 
" Vicar of Jesus Christ upon earth/' and " Supreme 
Visible Head of the Church." Let it be candidly 
admitted that no Principal treats his Vicar in the 
manner in which God treated Clement, unless he 
means that such . Vicar should understand by the 
treatment that he has ceased to be the depository of 
his confidence. 

" If it be conceded that events have a logic well 
nigh irresistible, this event proves that up to the 
year A. D. 100 — that is, thirty years after the death 
of Peter — God did not regard the Church of Rome 
as the centre of Christian knowledge and authority ; 
nor did he regard the successors of Peter, of whom 
there had already been four — -as the Romanists 
claim — as either the indispensable teachers, or the 
supreme rulers of His Church ; that St. John, the 
last surviving representative of the Order of Apos- 
tles (at least of the twelve) received from heaven 
the communications which were intended for the 
church, and that when God wished to speak, He 
spoke through John precisely as if there had been 
no occupant of the " Chair of Peter ;" — from all 



306 A Blunder as Well as a Crime. 

which it follows, as a logical result, that since Clem- 
ent L, the Pope so excluded, did not possess the 
supremacy of teaching, or of jurisdiction, he had 
not received it by virtue of his succession from 
Peter, and that not having received it he could not 
have transmitted it to his successors in the Bishop- 
ric of Rome." (" Romanism Not Christianity," by 
T. Robert Love, 1893). 

However certain it may appear to the Romish 
priests and bishops that there is no truth whatever 
in their preposterous claim, first made in the Dark 
Ages ; that Peter was the first Pope, and that all 
the popes of Rome have been his successors — and 
they must certainly know their claim to be false — 
they cannot relax this claim without destroying 
their Church. They have made it an essential 
article of faith, and every Romanist is bound to 
accept it as true, under penalty of eternal damnation ! 
Every one uniting with the Church of Rome is 
required to take the following oath : " I promise 
and swear true obedience to the Roman Bishop, the 
successor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and 
vicar of Jesus Christ, etc." In claiming Peter for 
the first Pope, instead of Paul, they committed a 
blunder, as well as a crime ; but it is too late for 
them to rectify it ; and they are bound to maintain 
and defend this stupendous falsehood to the last 
gasp, for their very existence depends on it. It is 
the consciousness that what Paul says of Anti- 
christ, " speaking lies in hypocrisy" applies to the 
Romish Church, that compels her priests and bish- 



The Forged Decretals. 307 

ops to do all in their power to hold their people in 
ignorance, and to keep from them the Bible ; to 
separate their children from ours, by erecting the 
parochial schools ; and by commanding their men 
to leave Protestant Orders and Societies. Their 
whole aim is to keep the light from breaking in 
upon their poor, deceived and defrauded people. 

The Popes of Rome had made such advances 
toward absolute power, and had put forth such arro- 
gant and audacious claims by virtue of their pre- 
tended succession from Peter, that it became neces- 
sary to be able to present to the world something 
that should serve as a basis for such high pretensions. 
Accordingly Rome's priests and bishops resort to the 
most barefaced forgeries. Gibbon, Mosheim, Hal- 
lam, and indeed all historians of what are called the 
Dark Ages, have something to say of certain docu- 
ments known by the name of the Forged De- 
cretals, or the Isidorian Decretals. These de- 
cretals consisted of about one hundred decrees of 
the earliest Popes, together with certain spurious 
writings of other church dignitaries, and all designed 
to prove that the great power and authority claimed 
by the popes in the ninth century had always been 
exercised by the popes, and rightfully belonged to 
them by virtue of their succession from Pope Peter. 
These decretals were brought forward in the ninth 
century and bore the name of Isidore, Bishop of 
Seville, to make the world believe they had been 
collected by that prelate some two or three centuries 
before. 



308 Unimpeachable Witnesses. 

It is most astonishing that upon the strength 
of these documents, now acknowledged even by 
Fleury and Baronius, and, I believe, all other 
Romish writers, to be forgeries, the world should 
have quietly submitted for centuries of gloom and 
darkness to the tyrannical usurpations of the 
haughty and profligate prelates of Rome. Hallam 
says (" Middle Ages," vol. ii., p. 297, note) : " The 
fabric erected upon these forged documents has 
stood after the foundation upon which it rested has 
crumbled beneath it ; for no one has pretended to 
deny for the last two centuries that the imposture is 
too palpable for any but the most ignorant ages to 
credit." 

In 1870 a volume was translated from the Ger- 
man, and written by some one who subscribes him- 
self " Janus." The title of the book is " The Pope 
and the Council," and was written by a scholarly 
and learned Roman Catholic in protest against the 
Vatican Council formulating the decree of papal 
infallibility. This book produced great excitement 
inside the Romish Church, and great interest among 
thoughtful men outside of it, evidently because it is 
written by one inside the Romish Church, and 
because it bears evidence of great learning, and 
shows the author to be thoroughly familiar with 
his subject. For these reasons, I prefer to pass by 
other authorities and to quote from this unpreju- 
diced writer, and not to follow out any of his argu- 
ments, but simply to prove that Rome has this mark 
of Antichrist — that she is given to " speaking lies in 



A Learned Romanist Speaks. 309 

hypocrisy." Janus says : " But in the middle of that 
century (about 845) arose the huge fabrication of the 
Isidorian decretals, which had results far beyond 
what its author contemplated, and gradually but 
surely changed the whole constitution and government of 
the Church. It would be difficult to find in all history 
a second instance of so successful and yet so clumsy 
a forgery. For three centuries past it has been ex- 
posed, and yet the principles it introduced and 
brought into practice have taken such deep root in 
the soil of the Church, and have so grown into her 
life, that the exposure of the fraud has produced no 
result in shaking the dominant system. 

" About a hundred pretended decrees of the earliest 
popes, together with certain spurious writings of other 
Church dignitaries, and acts of Synods, were then 
fabricated in the west of Gaul, and eagerly seized 
upon by Pope Nicolas I., at Rome, to be used as 
genuine documents in support of the new claims 
put forward by himself and his successors. It is 
true that the immediate object of the compiler of 
this forgery was only to protect bishops against their 
metropolitans and other authorities, so as to secure 
absolute impunity and the exclusion of all influence 
of the secular power. But this end was to be gained 
by such an immense extension of the papal power, 
that, as his principles gradually penetrated the 
Church, and were followed out in their consequences, 
she necessarily assumed the form of an absolute 
monarchy, subjected to the arbitrary power of a 
single individual, and the foundation of the edifice 



310 A Convenient Fraud. 

of Papal Infallibility was already laid." Again, 
Janus says : " Before this fabrication many very 
efficacious forgeries had won a gradual recognition 
at Rome since the beginning of the sixth century ; 
and on them was based the maxim that the Pope, 
as supreme in the Church, could be judged by no 
man. That the pseudo-Isidorian principles event- 
ually revolutionized the whole constitution of the 
Church, and introduced a new system in place of 
the old. On that point there can be no controversy 
among candid historians. Soon after receiving the 
new implements forged in the Isidorian workshop, 
(about 863 or 864) Nicolas met the doubts of the 
Frankish bishops with the assurance that the Roman 
Church had long preserved all those documents with 
honor in her archives, (" lies in hypocrisy ") and 
that every writing of a pope .... was bind- 
ing on the whole Church. In a synod at Rome in 
863 he had accordingly anathematized all who 
should refuse to receive the teaching or ordinances 
of a pope. If, indeed, all papal utterances were a 
rule for the whole Church, and all decrees of coun- 
cils dependent on the Pope's good pleasure, as 
Nicolas asserted on the strength of the Isidorian 
forgery, then there would be but one step further to 
the promulgation of Papal Infallibility, though it 
has been long delayed." 

This learned Romish author has stated, as we 
have seen, that Rome had found it convenient to 
practice forgery even before the invention of these 
False Decretals, and we shall find him asserting that 



Rome Finds Forgery Profitable. 311 

Rome found so much profit from these lying decre- 
tals that she continued her forgeries even down to 
and during the reign of Hildebrand, or Gregory 
VII. No Pope had ever carried his pretensions 
to such extreme lengths as did Hildebrand, who 
claimed the right to depose emperors and kings, to 
revoke the laws of parliaments, to absolve subjects 
from their allegiance to their rightful rulers, to lay 
nations under interdict, and to trample underfoot 
all human authority and law. And our learned 
Janus tells us that this tyrannical Hildebrand based 
all his monstrous demands on the Isidorian Decre- 
tals, that are declared both by Romish and Protes- 
tant scholars to be false, and forgeries. He says, 
" Gregory borrowed one main pillar of his system 
from the False Decretals. Isidore had made Pope 
Julius (about 338) write to the Eastern bishops : 
' The Church of Rome, by a singular privilege, has 
the right of opening and shutting the gates of heaven 
to whom she will.' On this Gregory built his scheme 
of dominion. How should not he be able to judge 
on earth, on whose will hung the salvation or damna- 
tion of men?" 

Not only did the False Decretals of the pseudo- 
Isidore greatly serve the wicked purposes of the 
popes and prelates, but, as they had been so success- 
fully used for hundreds of years, without the mon- 
strous fraud being discovered, Janus, as well as other 
historians, proves that the Romish authorities formed 
the habit of inventing new forgeries whenever the 
interests of the Church required. Our author says, 



312 Holy Fabrications! 

" Gregory himself had his own little stock of fabri- 
cated or distorted facts to support pretensions and 
undertakings which seemed to his contemporaries 
strange and unauthorized. ... At the same 
time, Gregory thought it most important, with all 
his legislative activity and lofty claims, and high- 
handed measures, not to seem too much of an inno- 
vator and despot; he constantly affirmed that he 
only wished .to restore the ancient laws of the 
Church and abolish late abuses. When he drew 
out the whole system of papal omnipotence, in 
twenty-seven theses, in his Dictatus, these theses 
were mere repetitions, or corollaries, of the Isidorian 
Decretals ; partly he and his friends and allies 
sought to give them the appearance of tradition and 
antiquity by new fictions" " Like the successive 
strata of the earth, covering one another, so layer 
after layer of forgeries and fabrications was piled up in 
the Church" There is much more to the same effect, 
but this must suffice. (See " The Pope and the Coun- 
cil/' by Janus, who proves all his statements by 
abundant quotations from learned authors). 

How absolutely overwhelming is the proof that 
the Roman Catholic Church is a lying church, and 
therefore it is impossible she can be the Church of 
Christ ! 

The so-called Donation of Constantine affords 
another illustration of the fearful mendacity of 
the Romish Church. This also was a forged docu- 
ment, in which it was declared that the Emperor 
Constantine had conferred on Sylvester, then Bishop 



Romish Forgeries Multiply. 313 

of Rome, the city of Rome, and all Italy, with the 
crown, the mitre, etc. The following extract from 
this pretended deed of donation will be sufficient to 
show the character of this bungling imposture: 
" We attribute to the chair of St. Peter all the impe- 
rial dignity, glory and power. . . . Moreover, 
we give to Sylvester and his successors our palace of 
Lateran, incontestably one of the finest palaces on 
earth ; we give him our crown, our mitre, our dia- 
dem, and all our imperial vestments ; we resign to 
him the imperial dignity. . . . We give as a 
free gift to the Holy Pontiff the city of Rome and 
all the western cities of Italy, as well as the western 
cities of the other countries. To make room for 
him we abdicate our sovereignty over all these 
provinces ; and we withdraw from Rome, transfer- 
ring the seat of our empire to Byzantium, since it 
is not just that a terrestrial emperor shall retain 
any power where God has placed the head of 
religion." 

Like the Isidorian Decretals, this so-called Dona- 
tion of Constantine is now acknowledged, even by 
the most prominent Romish authorities, to be a 
shameful forgery. Gibbon, in his great work on 
" The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire/' 
says : " By an epistle of Pope Adrian I. to the Em- 
peror Charlemagne, he exhorts him to imitate the 
example of the great Constantine in his liberality 
to the See of Rome. According to the legend, the 
first of the Christian emperors was healed of the 
leprosy, and purified in the waters of baptism by 



314 The Forged Donation of Constantine. 

St. Sylvester, the Roman bishop ; and never was 
physician more gloriously recompensed. His royal 
proselyte withdrew from his seat and patrimony of 
St. Peter, declared his intention to found a new 
capital in the East, and resigned to the popes the free 
and perpetual sovereignty of Rome, Italy, and the prov- 
inces of the West. This fiction was productive of the 
most beneficial effects. The Greek princes were 
convicted of the guilt of usurpation, and the revolt 
of Pope Gregory was the claim of his lawful inheri- 
tance. The popes were delivered from their debt of 
gratitude, and the nominal gifts of the Carlovin- 
gians were no more than the just and irrevocable 
restitution of a scanty portion of the ecclesiastical 
state. The sovereignty of Rome no longer depended 
on the choice of a fickle people ; and the successors 
of St. Peter and Constantine were invested with the 
purple and prerogatives of the Caesars. So deep was 
the ignorance and credulity of the times that this 
most absurd of fables was received with equal rev- 
erence in Greece and in France, and is still enrolled 
among the decrees of the canon law. The emperors 
of the Romans were incapable of discerning a 
forgery that subverted their rights and freedom, and 
the only opposition proceeded from a Sabine mon- 
astery, which, in the beginning of the twelfth cen- 
tury, disputed the validity of the donation of Con- 
stantine. 

" In the revival of letters and liberty this fictitious 
deed was transpierced by the pen of Laurentius 
Valla, an eloquent critic, a Roman patriot. His 



Gibbon's Testimony to the Fraud. 315 

contemporaries of the fifteenth century were aston- 
ished at his sacrilegious boldness ; yet, such is the 
silent and irresistible progress of reason, that before 
the end of the next age the fable was rejected by 
the contempt of historians, though, by the same for- 
tune which has attended the Decretals and the 
Sybilline Oracles, the edifice has subsisted after the 
foundations have been undermined." As this mat- 
ter is of such vast importance, the temporal domin- 
ion of the popes for a thousand years having resulted 
from this stupendous fraud, I will quote a few para- 
graphs from our learned Roman Catholic, " Janus." 
He says : " After the middle of the eighth century 
the famous Donation of Constantine was concocted 
at Rome. It is based on the earlier fifth century 
legend of his cure from leprosy and his baptism by 
Pope Sylvester, which is repeated at length, and the 
Emperor is said, out of gratitude, to have bestowed 
Italy and the western provinces on the Pope. . . . 
The forgery betrayed its Roman authorship in every 
line. It is self-evident that a cleric of the Lateran 
Church was the composer. The document was obvi- 
ously intended to be shown to the Frankish king, 
Pepin, and must have been compiled just before 754. 
Constantine relates in it how he served the Pope as 
his groom, and led his horse some distance. This 
induced Pepin to offer the Pope a homage, so foreign 
to Frankish ideas, and the Pope told him from the 
first that he expected not a gift, but a restitution 
from him and his Franks. The first reference to 
this gift of Constantine occurs in Adrian's letter to 



316 Ignorance Profitable to Rome. 

Charlemagne in 777, where he tells him that, as the 
new Constantine, he has indeed given the Church 
what is her own, but that he has more of the old 

imperial endowments to restore to her 

Such language first became intelligible when the 
Donation of Constantine was brought forward to 
show that the Pope was the rightful possessor as heir 
of the Roman Caesars in Italy ; for, he being at once 
the successor of St. Peter and Constantine, what was 
given to the Roman Republic was given to St. 
Peter, and vice versa. 

" There was no danger of such documents as the 
Epistle of Peter, and the Donation of Constantine 
being critically examined at the warlike court of 
Pepin. Men who might be written to that their 
bodies and souls would be eternally lacerated and 
tormented in hell if they did not fight against the 
enemies of the Church, believed readily enough 
that Constantine had given Italy to Pope Sylvester. 
Those were days of darkness in France, and in the 
complete extinction of all learning, there was not a 
single man about Pepin whose sharpsightedness the 
Roman agents had reason to dread. 

" One is tempted to ascribe to the same hand the 
Epistle of St. Peter to his " adopted son," the King 
of the Franks, which appeared also at this moment 
of great danger and distress, as well as of lofty 
hopes and pretensions, — a fabrication which for 
strangeness and audacity has never been exceeded. 
Entreating, and promising victory, and then again 
threatening the pains of hell, the Prince of the 



A Letter from Peter in Heaven. 317 

Apostles adjures the Franks to deliver Rome, and 
the Roman Church. The Epistle really went from 
Rome to the Frankish Kingdom, and seems to have 
produced its effect there." (" The Pope and The 
Council/' p. 131, etc.) But what is this " Epistle of 
St. Peter/' to which our Romanist author refers ? It 
is another great forgery — "A fabrication which for 
strangeness and audacity has never been exceeded." 
We shall find a copy of this forged Epistle in Dow- 
ling's " History of Romanism/' page 171. The his- 
torian says : " As some time elapsed, and the Pope 
had received no intelligence of the March of Pepin, 
Stephen began to fear that the impression produced 
by his letter on the mind of the King had not been 
sufficiently powerful to induce him to cross the 
Alps a second time, and as the city, unless relieved, 
could not sustain the siege much longer, he adopted 
the extraordinary expedient of pretending, by one 
of those pious frauds, which papists have always re- 
garded as lawful and commendable, to have received 
a letter from St. Peter in heaven, beseeching the imme- 
diate interposition of the French on behalf of his 
successor, and his See. This most singular docu- 
ment has been preserved in the Codex Carolinus, as 
well as the last quoted letter of Pope Stephen. The 
superscription is as follows : ' Simon Peter, a ser- 
vant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to the three most 
excellent Kings, Pepin, Charles, and Carloman ; to 
all the holy bishops, abbots, presbyters, and monks ; 
to all the dukes, counts, commanders of the French 
army, and to the whole people of France; Grace 



318 Pope Peter in Heaven Wants Blood. 

unto you, and peace be multiplied.' The letter 
then proceeds thus : " I am the Apostle Peter, to 
whom it was said, Thou art Peter, and upon this 
rock, etc., Feed my sheep, etc. ; And to thee will I 
give the keys, etc. As this was all said to me in 
particular, all who hearken unto me, and obey my 
exhortations, may persuade themselves, and firmly 
believe that their sins are forgiven them ; and that 
they will be admitted, cleansed from all guilt, into 
life everlasting. Hearken, therefore, to me, to me, 
Peter the apostle and servant of Jesus Christ, and 
since I have preferred you to all the nations of the 
earth, hasten, I beseech and conjure you, if you care 
to be cleansed from your sins, and to earn an eternal 
reward, hasten to the relief of my city, of my church, 
of the people committed to my care, ready to fall 
into the hands of the wicked Lombards, their mer- 
ciless enemies. It has pleased the Almighty that 
my body should rest in this city ; the body that has 
suffered for the sake of Christ such exquisite tor- 
ments ; and can you, my most excellent sons, stand 
by unconcerned, and see it insulted by the most 
wicked of nations ? No, let it never be said, and it 
will, I hope, never be said, that I, the apostle of 
Jesus Christ, that my apostolic church, the founda- 
tion of the faith; that my flock, recommended to 
you by me and my vicar, have trusted in you, but 
trusted in vain. Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, 
Mother of God, joins in earnestly entreating, nay, 
commands you to hasten, to run, to fly to the relief, 
of my favorite people, reduced almost to the last 



Peter in Heaven Flatters the French. 319 

gasp, and calling in that extremity night and day 
upon her, and upon me. The thrones and domin- 
ions, the principalities and the powers, and the 
whole multitude of the heavenly hosts, entreat you, 
together with us, not to delay ; but to come with all 
possible speed, and rescue my chosen flock from the 
jaws of the ravening wolves ready to devour them. 
My vicar might, in this extremity, have recurred, 
and not in vain, to other nations; but with me 
the French are, and ever have been, the first, the 
best, and most deserving of all nations, and I would 
not suffer the exceeding great reward that is re- 
served in this, and in the other world, for those w r ho 
shall deliver my people, to be earned by any other." 

In other portions of this shameful letter, which 
the " holy " Pope had forged, and declared to have 
been written by the apostle Peter himself in heaven, 
Peter is made to repeat all that the Pope had 
said in his letters, to court the favor and protection 
of the French, with the most abject flattery; to 
assail with the most bitter rancor " the most wicked 
nation of the Lombards ; " and to entreat his most 
Christian, and zealous sons to come with all possible 
speed to the relief of his vicar and people, lest they 
should fall into the hands of their implacable 
enemies, and those from whom they had a right to 
expect relief, incur the wrath of the Almighty, and 
his, and be thereby excluded, notwithstanding all 
their other good works, from the kingdom of heaven. 

Enough has been quoted in this chapter, as 
well as preceding chapters, from most reliable 



320 A Foundation of Sand. 

authorities, to prove that the Romish Church pos- 
sesses that shameful characteristic of Antichrist — 
" Speaking lies in hypocrisy" It cannot be denied 
that the Church of Rome is, and always has been, a 
lying Church. This is the indisputable truth. Her 
chief claim is that she is apostolic by virtue of 
the fact that her popes are the successors of " Peter, 
who was the first Pope of Rome." All history and 
scripture conspire to prove the utter falsity of such 
pretensions. Then all her great pretensions to being 
superior to emperors, and kings, and governments, 
and laws, and to being " the only true church, 
out of which there is no salvation," are based chiefly 
on the Forged Decretals, that are abundantly 
proved to be unmitigated lies, even by her own 
recognized authorities; who also declare that the 
Donation of Constantine was a fraud and forgery 
that " betrayed its Roman authorship in every 
line." And yet on this forged will of Constantine, 
and by virtue of it, the popes of Rome, for a thou- 
sand years, exercised temporal and kingly dominion 
over states and kingdoms that were wrested from 
their rightful owners by injustice, robbery, blood- 
shedding, and innumerable murders ! 

It must not be forgotten that the apostle Paul, in 
the passage of Scripture that furnishes the basis for 
this chapter, says that this lying is done " in hypoc- 
risy " — or hypocritically. Or more strictly, per- 
haps, " Through the hypocrisy of those speaking 
lies." All the false and blasphemous teachings of 
the Romish priesthood derive their chief infamy 



Seared Consciences. 321 

from the fact that they are being palmed off on the 
ignorant and superstitious as the true teachings of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and of his true Christian Church. 
The priests of the Romish Church certainly know 
that the legends, and pretended miracles of their 
Church are utterly false and fraudulent, and in- 
tended to deceive the people, and to maintain the 
hold of the priests on the minds of the credulous. 
Well and truly does Paul say of such hypocrites 
that their " consciences are seared as with a hot iron" 
Men who can knowingly teach falsehood for truth, 
and do it in the name of God and religion, and 
to the peril of souls, are men who by wicked 
practices have deadened all moral sensibility and 
are " past feeling " — " having their conscience seared 
with a hot iron." 



CHAPTER XV. 

Antagonistic Laws. 

Among the " doctrines of devils " spoken of by- 
Paul, in 1 Timothy 1 : 1-3 ; are " Forbidding to marry, 
and commanding to abstain from meats." These are 
pointed out as indisputable signs of the apostasy, 
and marks of Antichrist As these are cherished 
doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome, and 
known to all to be such, it inevitably follows that in 
her we find that great system of fraud and deception 
so clearly portrayed, and so severely denounced in 
the Word of God, as the great enemy of God and 
the human race. The teachings of the Papacy in 
regard to marriage are directly opposite to the 
teaching of the Almighty himself on this subject, 
and clearly prove that the Pope of Rome, deliber- 
ately, and blasphemously, sets his authority above 
the authority of God himself. The inspired Paul 
says : " This is a true saying, if a man desire the 
office of a bishop he desireth a good work. A 
bishop then must be blameless, The Husband of 
One Wife; .... One that ruleth well his own house, 
having his Children in subjection, with all gravity ; 
for if a man know not how to rule his own house, 
how shall he take care of the Church of God?" 
(1 Tim. iii : 1, etc.) In describing the qualification 
of elders, or bishops, Paul says: " If any be blame- 
less, The Husband of One Wife ; having faithful 
Children, etc." (Titus 1 : 5, etc.) " Marriage is 

322 



Priestly Celibacy Not of God. 323 

honorable in all." (Heb. 13 : 4.) If marriage is 
honorable in All, as God says it is, then it is hon- 
orable in the ministers of religion. Peter, whom 
Romanists say was the first Pope, undoubtedly was 
a married man, for in Matthew 8 : 14, we read, 
u And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he 
saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever," etc. 
The Evangelists, Mark and Luke, also make the 
same statement. It is the same in the Roman Cath- 
olic Bible. The Apostle Paul asks — " Have we not 
power to lead about a sister, a Wife, as well as 
other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and 
Cephas ? (1 Cor. 9 : 5.) " Let every man have his 
own wife, etc." (1 Cor. 7 : 2.) 

At a very early period in the history of the 
Christian Church unscriptural notions began to 
prevail in regard to celibacy and marriage. Even 
in the time of Tertullian, who lived at the begin- 
ning of the third century, the notion prevailed that 
celibacy was highly meritorious, and that marriage 
was discreditable. Hence, when dissuading from 
second marriages, this eminent " Father " uses the 
following language : " May it not suffice thee to 
have fallen from that high rank of immaculate vir- 
ginity by once marrying, and so descending to a 
second stage of honor ? Must thou yet fall farther ; 
even to a third, to a fourth, and perhaps yet 
lower ? " No doubt the glorification of celibacy to 
be found in the early Christian ages was largely due 
to Pagan influences. Wherever dualistic ideas of a 
good and evil principle, and of matter as the seat of 



324 God's Law of No Account. 

evil, prevailed, there it was natural that ascetic 
notions of virginity should arise. These unscrip- 
tural notions, — no doubt imbibed from the sur- 
rounding paganism, — began to prevail at a very 
early period, together with other superstitious con- 
ceits in regard to the influence of malignant 
demons. Mosheim says it was an almost universal 
persuasion that they who took wives were, of all 
others, the most subject to their influence. And as 
it was of infinite importance to the interests of the 
Church that no impure or malevolent spirit entered 
into the bodies of such as were appointed to govern, 
or to instruct others ; so the people were desirous 
that the clergy should use their utmost efforts to 
abstain from the pleasures of the conjugal life. The 
natural consequence of the prevalence of such views 
was that unmarried men began to be regarded 
as far more suitable for the office of the sacred min- 
istry than married men. After awhile second mar- 
riages were, by many, condemned in any case, and 
were regarded as wholly inconsistent with the 
purity of the sacred office, and therefore entirely 
inadmissible in the clergy. 

For centuries this question of the celibacy of the 
clergy was a subject of constant struggle within the 
Church. Many priests had wives, although the 
councils were issuing new orders every now and 
then against them. Pope Leo IX., (1048-1054) and 
Pope Nicolas II., (1058-1061) interdicted all priests 
that had wives, or concubines, from the exercise 
of any spiritual functions, on pain of excommuni- 



Priests Opposed to Celibacy. 325 

cation. Alexander II., (1061-1073) decreed excom- 
munication against all who should attend a mass 
celebrated by a priest having a wife or concubine. 
This decision was renewed by Hildebrand (Gre- 
gory VII.,) in a council held at Rome in 1074, and 
a decretal was issued that every layman who should 
receive the communion from the hands of a married 
priest should be excommunicated, and that every 
priest who married should be deposed. This decree 
met with the most violent opposition in all coun- 
tries ; but Gregory succeeded in carrying it out with 
the utmost rigor ; and though individual instances 
of married priests were still to be found in the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the celibacy of the 
Roman Catholic priesthood was established, and 
has since continued both in theory and practice. 
Nevertheless, after the Reformation, the question 
came up, and at the Council of Trent (1545-1563) 
several bishops, and the Emperor Charles V., favored 
a relaxation of the rule. In spite, however, of every 
objection and protest, this unscriptural, unnatural, 
and infamous rule was carried by the Council, 
and celibacy was forever imposed on the priests 
of the Roman Catholic Church. 

The Council of Trent was convened chiefly for 
the purpose of destroying, so far as possible, the 
influence of the Reformation and antognizing the 
doctrines of Martin Luther — doctrines that were 
agitating all the European nations. Much has been 
written in regard to the dignity, pomp and splendor of 
that notable assembly ; but considered from a moral 



326 Blasphemy of the Council of Trent 

point of view, the Council of Trent was, perhaps, 
the most wicked and blasphemous assembly of men 
ever convened together since the creation of the 
world. The different sessions of that great Council 
extended over nearly eighteen years, so that what 
was done, was done deliberately, and with much 
premeditation. The light that streamed from a long 
closed, but now open Bible, had dazzled the eyes of 
the popes and prelates of Rome, and as " the wicked 
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds 
are evil," they assembled together for the evil pur- 
pose of extinguishing that light. Martin Luther, 
with the open Bible in his hand, had shown men 
how God had legislated for the emancipation of 
human society and the salvation of the human soul, 
through simple faith in Jesus Christ, and the Coun- 
cil of Trent assembled for the very purpose of 
antagonizing the Divine legislation by setting up 
their own laws in opposition to the laws of God. 
Almost their entire work was of this blasphemous 
character; but we have only to do now with their 
prohibition of marriage to their bishops and priests. 
These men pretended to be acting in the fear of God, 
and for His glory, and in the interests and defense 
of revealed truth, while all the time they were set- 
ting their own authority above the authority of the 
Almighty. 

We have seen how distinctly and repeatedly God, 
in His holy word, approves and commends marriage, 
and especially to the Christian ministry, declaring, "A 
bishop must be the husband of one wife." This is 



Evil Results of Celibacy. 327 

not simply a quotation from the Protestant Bible, 
for their Roman Catholic Bible says the same thing. 
I will give the exact words of their own version, 
now before me : " It behooveth, therefore, a bishop 
to be blameless, the husband of one wife" etc. " One 
that ruleth well his own house, having his children 
in subjection, with all chastity." (1 Tim. 3 : 1-4.) 
In spite, then, of the plainest declarations of God's 
holy word, that celebrated Council, composed of the 
highest dignitaries and official representatives of 
the Church, dared to legislate in direct opposition to 
the legislation of God himself. But what makes the 
crimes of that Council all the greater is the fact that 
all the best men in the Roman Catholic Church, 
as well as the people in general, were crying out 
against the shocking immoralties of the priesthood, 
resulting from the enforced celibacy to which they 
were subject. Luther, Calvin and the other reform- 
ers were constantly crying out against the great 
scandals brought on the very name of religion 
through the horrible corruptions of the priests and 
bishops of the Church. Calvin speaks as follows of 
the monstrous evils resulting from the unscriptural 
and infamous law of celibacy : " With what im- 
punity fornication rages among them it is unneces- 
sary to remark ; emboldened by their polluted celi- 
bacy they have become hardened to every crime. 
Yet this prohibition clearly shows how pestilent are 
all their traditions, since it has not only deprived 
the Church of upright and able pastors, but has 
formed a horrible gulf of enormities, and has pre- 



328 The Augsburg Confession. 

cipitated many souls into the abyss of despair. The 
interdiction of marriage to the priests was certainly 
an act of impious tyranny, not only contrary to the 
word of God, but at variance with every principle 
of justice. In the first place, it was on no account 
lawful for men to prohibit that which the Lord had 
left free. Secondly, that God had expressly provided 
in his word that this liberty should not be infringed, 
is too clear to require much proof." 

The Augsburg Confession has a long article (xxiii.) 
on the subject, from which we extract a passage: 
" Matrimony is moreover declared a lawful and hon- 
orable estate by the laws of your imperial Majesty 
and by the code of every empire in which justice 
and law prevailed. Of late, however, innocent sub- 
jects, and especially ministers, are cruelly tormented 
on account of their marriage. Nor is such conduct 
a violation of the Divine laws alone ; it is equally 
opposed to the canons of the Church. The Apostle 
Paul denominates that a ' doctrine of devils ' which 
forbids marriage, (1 Tim. iv. : 1-3) and Christ says 
(John viii. : 44.) ' The devil is a murderer from the 
beginning.' For that may well be regarded as a 
doctrine of devils which forbids marriage and en- 
forces the prohibition by the shedding of blood." 

A council held at Rome removed the pastors from 
their families, and obliged them to devote them- 
selves individually to the hierarchy. The law of 
celibacy, devised and carried into effect by the popes, 
(who were themselves monks) changed the clergy 
into a monastic order. The legates of Hildebrand 



Bitter Fruits of Celibacy. 329 

passed through the provinces depriving the pastors 
of their lawful wives, and the Pope himself, if neces- 
sary, excited the populace against the married clergy. 
The annals of the age swarm with scandals. In many 
places the people were well pleased that the priest 
should have a woman in keeping, that their wives 
might be safe from their seductions." What scenes 
of humiliation were witnessed in the house of the 
pastor. The wretched man supported the mother 
and her children with the tithe and the offering ; 
his conscience was troubled ; he blushed in presence 
of his people, of his servants, and before God. The 
mother, fearing to come to want when the priest 
should die, provided against it beforehand, and 
robbed the house. Her character was gone; her 
children were a living accusation of her. Treated 
on all sides with contempt, they plunged into brawls 
and debaucheries. Such was the family of the priest. 
These horrid scenes were a kind of instruction that 
the people were ready enough to follow. 

The rural districts were the scene of numerous 
excesses. The abodes of the clergy were frequently 
the resorts of the dissolute. Cornelius Adrian, at 
Bruges; the Abbot Trinkler, at Chappel, imitated 
the customs of the East, and had their harems. 
" Priests consorted with abandoned characters, fre- 
quented the taverns, played dice, and finished their 
orgies with quarrels and blasphemies." " Rome was 
one vast scene of debaucheries." In several places 
the priest paid to the bishop a regular tax for the 
woman with whom he lived. A German bishop, 



330 In Defiance of Holy Scripture. 

who was present at a grand entertainment, publicly 
declared that in one year eleven thousand priests 
had presented themselves to him for that purpose. 
It is the learned Erasmus who records this. The 
higher orders of the hierarchy were equally corrupt. 
(See " D'Aubign&'s History of the Reformation " for 
the facts given on this page.) 

Martin Luther declared, " The ecclesiastical order 
is opposed to God and to his glory. The people well 
know it, and it is but too evident, from the many 
songs, proverbs, and jests on the priests, current 
among the common people, as also from figures of 
monks and priests scrawled on the walls, and even 
on the playing cards, that everyone has a feeling of 
disgust at the sight or name of a priest." 

In spite of the fact of this general " feeling of dis- 
gust" with the Romish priesthood, on account of 
their great immorality, resulting from the rule of 
celibacy ; in spite of the fact that all Europe was 
crying out against this priestly profligacy ; in spite 
of the fact that Luther and Calvin, and the entire 
company of the reformers had turned the search- 
light of God's holy word on this law of celibacy ; 
and in spite of the fact that the bishops and others, 
composing the Council of Trent, had in their hands 
the Bible, which plainly reveals the Divine approval 
of the marriage relation, and especially for the Chris- 
tian ministry, and God's disapproval of celibacy — in 
spite of all this, the Council deliberately decreed : 
"(Whosoever shall say that the married state is to 
be preferred to a state of virginity or celibacy, and 



Another Mark of Antichrist. 331 

that it is not better and more blessed to remain in 
virginity or celibacy, than to be joined in marriage, 
let him be accursed." Thus this notable Council of 
Trent, by particularly pretending to represent God 
and his true Church, passes sentence of eternal dam- 
nation on all who dare to obey God rather than men ! 
In doing this they blasphemed God ; trampled under 
foot the natural rights of men ; insulted the intelli- 
gence of the world, and unwittingly put upon the 
brazen forehead of the Church of Rome the brand 
of Antichrist. 

Another sign of the apostacy and mark of Anti- 
christ, as mentioned by Paul, (1 Tim. iv. : 3) is 
"Commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath 
created to be received with thanksgiving," etc. To 
forbid the use of certain meats is here described as 
one of the characteristics of those who would claim 
to be instructors of the Church in the times of the 
apostacy. It is not necessary to suppose that there 
would bean entire prohibition, but only a prohibi- 
tion of certain kinds and at certain seasons. That 
this characteristic is found in the papacy more than 
anywhere else in the Christian world it is needless 
to prove. The following questions and answers are 
from Dr. Butler's Catechism of the Roman Catholic 
Church, and will show what is the belief of Roman 
Catholics on this subject : — 

" Q. Are there any other commandments besides 
the ten commandments of God ? 

" A. There are the commandments or precepts of 
the Church, which are chiefly six. 



332 Rome Legislates for the Stomach. 

" Q. What are we obliged to do by the second 
commandment of the Church ? 

" A. To give part of the year to fast and abstinence. 

" Q. What do you mean by fast days ? 

" A. Certain days, on which we are allowed but 
one meal, and forbidden flesh meat 

" Q. What do jou mean by days of abstinence ? 

" A. Certain days, on which we are forbidden to 
eat flesh meat, but are allowed the usual number 
of meals. 

" Q. Is it strictly forbidden by the Church to eat 
flesh meat on days of abstinence ? 

" A. Yes ; and to eat flesh meat on any day on 
which it is forbidden, without necessity and leave of 
the Church, is very sinful." 

Could there be a more impressive and striking 
commentary on what the apostle says here, that in 
the latter days some would depart from the faith 
under the hypocritical teaching of those who " com- 
manded to abstain from meats?" The authority 
claimed by the papacy to issue commands on this 
subject may be seen still further by the following 
extract from the same catechism, showing the gra- 
cious permission of the Church to " the faithful." 
" The abstinence on Saturdays is dispensed with, for 
the faithful throughout the United States, for the 
space of ten years, (from 1833) except when a fast 
falls on Saturday. The use of flesh meat is allowed 
at present by dispensation, in the diocese of Phila- 
delphia, on all the Sundays of Lent, except Palm 
Sunday, and once a day on Monday, Tuesday, and 



Changing Sins into Virtues. 333 

Thursday in each week, except the Thursday after 
Ash Wednesday, and also excepting Holy Week." 
Such is the Roman Catholic religion! (See also 
Peter Den's Moral Theology, pp. 321-339. Albert 
Barnes on 1 Tim. 4 : 3.) Here we have the most 
disgusting trifling with the laws of God and with 
God-given rights and comforts of men. 

In this case of eating meat, as in the previous 
case of the celibacy of the Romish clergy, what God 
himself graciously and freely permits, the Church of 
Rome daringly and impudently prohibits. As we 
have seen, in the Romish catechism, for a papist to 
eat meat on certain days "is very sinful" and we are 
told by the same infallible authority that " The 
abstinence on Saturday is dispensed with for the 
faithful throughout the United States for the space 
of ten years. The use of flesh meat is allowed at 
present by dispensation, in the diocese of Philadel- 
phia," etc. Here we see that " The faithful in the 
United States " are given the privilege and the right 
to commit sin, or do that which is " very sinful" for 
the space of ten years." What is " very sinful " for the 
faithful outside of the United States, is virtuous and 
commendable within these limits. What is black 
in other countries is white here ! It is taught that 
" The Pope alone can grant a dispensation" Thus 
the Pope claims the ability to change the nature of 
sins and to transmute vices into virtues ! But if any 
common priest can, by the utterance of five Latin 
words, actually change a bit of baked dough into 
the literal living body and soul, and divinity of 



334 A Permission to Sin. 

Jesus Christ, why should not the Pope be able to 
change sins into virtues? It is said by Paul (II. 
Thess. ii. : 4) that Antichrist " Opposeth and exalteth 
himself above all that is called God, so that he, as God, 
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that 
he is God." And here we see the Pope, not only 
setting aside God's laws, and putting his own laws 
in their place, and setting them "above " God's laws, 
but in his dispensations he does what God has never 
attempted to do, and which by virtue of his infinite 
holiness he cannot do ; for the Pope declares a thing 
to be " very sinful" and then gives men permission to 
commit that sin. God forgives sin ; but he never gives 
a dispensation to sin, nor does he ever change the 
nature of sins by transmuting them into virtues. 
All that sort of thing is the exclusive privilege of 
the wicked blasphemer of the Seven Hills, who 
" exalteth himself above all that is called God, or 
that is worshipped." The Pope, as a matter of favor, 
graciously gives permission to eat meat on certain 
days, when God gives to every man the right to eat 
meat every day in the year, if he feels like it. 

No Pope, or government, or church has a right to 
compel men to keep a religious fast. It is a matter 
between the individual and his God. There can be 
no true fast where there is compulsion. Our Saviour 
said : " Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypo- 
crites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their 
faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily 
I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, 
when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy 



An Instructive Comment. 335 

face ; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but 
unto thy Father, which seeth in secret ; and thy 
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee 
openly." (Matt, vi: 16, &c.) 

An eminent author has this to say on the passage 
of Scripture now under consideration : " The last 
note and character of these men is ' commanding to 
abstain from meats, which God hath created to be 
received with thanksgiving of them which believe 
and know the truth ; ' where in the original the 
word commanding is not expressed, but understood, 
with an ellipsis that commentators have observed to 
be sometimes used by the best classic authors. The 
same lying hypocrites who should promote the wor- 
ship of demons, should not only prohibit lawful 
marriage, but likewise impose unnecessary absti- 
nence from meats : and there, too, as indeed it is fit 
they should, usually go together as constituent parts 
of the same hypocrisy. As we learn from Irenseus, 
the ancient heretics, called Continents, who taught 
that matrimony was not to be contracted, repro- 
bating the primitive work of God, and tacitly accus- 
ing him who made man and woman for the 
production of human kind, introduced abstinence 
also from animal food, showing themselves ungrate- 
ful to God, who made all things. It is as much the 
law and constitution of all monks to abstain from 
meats as from marriage. Some never eat any flesh, 
others only certain kinds, and on certain days. 
Frequent fasts is the rule and boast of their order ; 
and their carnal humility is their spiritual pride. 



336 " Idle, Popish, Monkish Abstinence." 

So lived the monks of the ancient church ; so live, 
with less strictness, perhaps, but with greater osten- 
tation, the monks and friars of the Church of Rome ; 
and these have been the principal propagators and 
defenders of the worship of the dead, both in former 
and in later times. The worship of the dead is 
indeed so monstrously absurd, as well as impious, 
that there was hardly any possibility of its ever 
succeeding and prevailing in the world but by 
hypocrisy and lies: but that particular sorts of 
hypocrisy, celibacy under pretence of chastity, and 
abstinence under pretence of devotion, should be 
employed for this purpose, the Spirit of God alone 
could foresee and foretell. 

" There is no necessary connection between the wor- 
ship of the dead, and forbidding to marry and com- 
manding to abstain from meats : and yet it is certain 
that the great advocates of this worship have, by 
their pretended purity and mortification, secured the 
greater reverence to their persons, and the readier 
reception to their doctrines. But this idle, popish, 
monkish abstinence is as unworthy of a Christian 
as it is unnatural to a man. It is perverting the 
purpose of nature, and l commanding to abstain 
from meats, which God hath created to be received 
with thanksgiving by the believers, and them that 
know the truth.' The apostle therefore approves 
and sanctifies the religious custom of blessing God 
at our meals, as our Saviour, when he was to dis- 
tribute the loaves and fishes, ' looked up to heaven, 
and blessed, and brake.' And what, then, can be 



Who are " Good Ministers t " 337 



said of those who have their tables spread with the 
most bountiful gifts of God, and yet constantly sit 
down and rise up again without suffering so much 
as one thought of the giver to intrude upon them ? 
It is but a thought, it is but a glimpse of devotion, 
and can they who refuse even that, be reputed either 
to believe or to know the truth ? Man is free to par- 
take of all the creatures of God ; but thanksgiving is 
the necessary condition. " For," as the apostle says, 
" every creature of God is good, and nothing to be 
refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is 
sanctified by the Word of God and prayer." The 
apostle proceeds to say that it is the duty of the 
ministers of the gospel to press and inculcate these 
things. " If thou put the brethren in remembrance 
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of 
Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith, and 
of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained." 
(1 Timothy, 4: 1-6.) All that is preached up of such 
abstinence and mortification, as well as all the 
legends of the saints, are no better than " profane 
and old wives' fables :" godliness is the only thing 
that will avail us here or hereafter ; " but refuse pro- 
fane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself 
rather unto godliness : for bodily exercise profiteth 
little ; but godliness is profitable unto all things, 
having promise of the life that now is and of that 
which is to come." (Newton, " On the Prophecies.") 
The apostle Paul says, as above quoted — u If thou 
put the brethren in remembrance of these things, 
thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ," etc. 



338 Priests Not Good Ministers. 

" These things " refers to what he had just written in 
regard to the wickedness and apostacy — or " falling 
away " from God — of those " Forbidding to marry, 
and commanding to abstain from meats." Paul was 
an inspired servant of God, and therefore taught the 
truth, and the truth only, in regard to the matters 
referred to, and could truly say that Timothy, who 
was a young preacher, would show himself to be " a 
good minister of Jesus Christ" if he faithfully 
preached what he had been taught. As the priests 
and bishops of Rome do not teach what Paul taught 
in regard to marriage, and the right of every man 
to eat what he pleases, it is quite certain that the 
Roman Catholic priests are not " good ministers of 
Jesus Christ ;" and as they do teach for truth what 
Paul condemns as heresy, and " doctrines of devils," 
it follows that they are not ministers of Jesus Christ 
at all, but are ministers of the devil, whose 
" doctrines " they teach. In the gospel of John we 
read (Chapter VIII.) that certain men, who made 
very high religious pretensions, and claimed to be 
of " the only true church," came to Christ denying 
his doctrines, and insisting on thier own infalli- 
bility. They insisted that they were in the true 
line of succession from Abraham, and declaring, 
" We have one Father, even God." To those self- 
satisfied members of " the true church " our Saviour 
replied : " Ye are of your father the devil, and the 
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer 
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, 
because there is no truth in him. When he speak- 



The Saviour's Severe Rebuke. 339 

eth a lie, he speaketh of his own : for he is a liar, 
and the father of it. And because I tell you the 
truth ye believe me not. He that is of God heareth 
God's words ; ye, therefore, hear them not, because 
ye are not of God." In all candor and charity, do 
not these severe and awful words of our Saviour 
justly apply to the priests of the Church of Rome? 
" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter 
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed 
to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils ; speaking 
lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared 
with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and command- 
ing to abstain from meats, which God hath created to 
be received with thanksgiving of them which believe 
and know the truth." But " the Little Horn had a 
mouth, speaking great things against the Most 
High." 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Voices From the Apocalypse. 

As this volume is being written for popular read- 
ing, it is written in popular style; avoiding, so 
far as possible, all that is abstruse, and technical ; 
our aim being to give to the people a strictly truth- 
ful view of the Roman Catholic Church, as she 
is presented to the world in the Word of God, and 
the most reliable History. Therefore coming, as 
we now do, to the most difficult of all the books 
of the Bible — the Apocalypse, or Revelation — we 
shall be compelled to pass over many very decided 
references to the Papacy ; first, because their expo- 
sition would require too much space ; and secondly, 
because, after all, the explanation given of the 
intensely figurative language of this portion of the 
Bible might fail to satisfy some readers that the 
explanation given is the correct one. We shall, 
therefore, refer those who desire a full understand- 
ing of this interesting book, to the learned exposi- 
tions of men who have made it their special study ; 
while we confine ourselves to those portions that are 
plain, and easily understood, and that refer without 
question to the Papacy. 

It is well known that many intelligent Christians 
take but little interest in this book of Revelation, 
believing that it is so intensely figurative and sym- 
bolical that it is impossible to understand it. But 
the Divine Author of the book says, plainly, "Blessed 

340 



An Interesting Quotation. 341 

is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this 
prophecy, and keep those things that are written 
therein : for the time is at hand." (Chapter 1 : 3.) 
From these words it seems that it is possible to un- 
derstand the book, provided it is reverently studied, 
with prayer for divine light ; for it is difficult to see 
how any one can be " blessed " in reading, or hear- 
ing, what it is " impossible to understand." 

The eleventh chapter of Revelation contains sev- 
eral very interesting references to the Romish 
Church ; but they are so intensely metaphorical 
that we will not rely on anything in this chapter in 
proof of what we have to say in this argument 
against Rome ; and yet will quote a few verses from 
it, at least to show the method of interpretation 
adopted by many of the most scholarly, and candid 
expositors, and because the facts made use of by 
these students of prophecy afford very interesting, 
and instructive reading on the subject of Roman- 
ism. Beginning at the third verse we read : "And 
I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they 
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three- 
score days clothed in sack cloth. (4) These are the 
two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing 
before the God of the earth. (5) And if any man 
shall hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, 
and devoureth their enemies : and if any man will 
hurt them he must in this manner be killed. 
(6) These have power to shut heaven, that it rain 
not in the days of their prophecy ; and have power 
over waters, to turn them to blood, and to smite the 



342 An Instructive Prophecy. 

earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (7) 
And when they shall have finished their testimony, 
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit 
shall make war against them, and shall overcome 
them, and kill them. (8) And their dead bodies 
shall lie in the street of the great city, which spirit- 
ually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our 
Lord was crucified. (9) And they of the people, 
and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see 
their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall 
not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 
(10) And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice 
over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts 
one to another; because these two prophets tor- 
mented them that dwelt on the earth. (11) And 
after three days and a half the Spirit of life from 
God entered into them, and they stood upon their 
feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them. 
(12) And they heard a great voice from heaven say- 
ing unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended 
up to heaven in a cloud ; and their enemies beheld 
them." Divesting these remarkable verses of 
their metaphorical drapery we find the following 
facts : In the darkest times God has had his wit- 
nesses to his truth. They who hurt God's witnesses 
shall be hurt themselves. The great enemy of 
God's true people is represented as a "beast from 
the bottomless pit ; " who shall triumph over God's 
people for awhile. That God's slain witnesses shall 
be refused decent burial by their cruel enemies. 
That the enemies of truth shall be filled with joy 



An Intelligent Interpretation. 343 

for a season on account of their success. After 
awhile the friends of God who seemed to be dead 
were raised to life by the Spirit of God, and were 
honored and exalted. Now all these things have 
literally come to pass in the history of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

The learned Dr. Newton, Bishop of the English 
Church, in his " Dissertations on the Prophecies," 
says, on the above quotations : " At the same time 
God should raise up some true and faithful witnesses 
to preach and protest against these innovations and 
corruptions of religion ; for there were Protestants 
long before the name came into use. Of these wit- 
nesses there should be, though but a small, yet a 
competent number, and it was a sufficient reason for 
making them ' two witnesses/ because that is the 
number required by the law, and approved by the 
gospel. (Deut. xix : 15 ; Matt, xviii : 16.) l In the 
mouth of two witnesses every word shall be estab- 
lished ; ? and upon former occasions two have often 
been joined in commission, as Moses and Aaron, in 
Egypt ; Elijah and Elisha, in the apostasy of the ten 
tribes, and Zerubbabel and Jeshua, after the Baby- 
lonish captivity, to whom these witnesses are par- 
ticularly compared. Our Saviour himself sent forth 
his disciples, i two and two ;' and it hath been 
observed, also, that the principal reformers have 
usually appeared, as it were, in pairs, as the Wal- 
denses and Albigenses, John Huss and Jerome of 
Prague, Luther and Calvin, Cranmer and Ridley, 
and their followers. Not that I conceive that any 



344 Beast from the Bottomless Pit. 

two particular men, or two particular churches, were 
intended by this prophecy ; but only it was meant 
in the general that there should be some in every 
age, though but a few in number, who should bear 
witness to the truth, and declare against the iniquity 
and idolatry of the times. They should not be dis" 
couraged even by persecution and oppression ; but 
though ' clothed in sackcloth,' and living in a 
mourning and afflicted state, should yet ' prophesy ' 
— should yet preach the sincere word of God, and 
denounce the divine judgment against the reigning 
idolatry and wickedness : and this they should con- 
tinue to do as long as the grand corruption itself 
lasted ; for the space of l a thousand two hundred 
and sixty days.' It is the same space of time with 
the ' forty and two months ' before mentioned. For 
' forty and two months,' consisting each of thirty 
days, are equal to ' a thousand two hundred and 
three score days,' or years in the prophetic style, and 
' a thousand two hundred and three score years,' as 
we have seen before in Daniel, and shall see here- 
after in the Revelation, is the period assigned for 
the tyranny and idolatry of the Church of Rome. 
The witnesses, therefore, cannot be any two men, or 
any two churches, but must be a succession of men, 
and a succession of churches. ... 

"'And when they shall have finished their testi- 
mony (or shall be about finishing their testimony) 
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit 
(the tyrannical power of Rome, of which we shall 
see more hereafter) shall make war against them, 



The Beast Triumphant. 345 

and shall overcome them and kill them/ The beast 
indeed shall make war against them all the time 
they are performing their ministry ; but when they 
shall be near finishing it, he shall so make war with 
them as to ' overcome them and kill them.' They 
shall be subdued and suppressed, be degraded from 
all power and authority, be deprived of all offices 
and functions, and be politically dead, if not natu- 
rally so. In this low and abject state they shall be 
sometime (verse 8) in the street of the great city, in 
some conspicuous place within the jurisdiction of 
Rome, which spiritually is called Sodom (for cor- 
ruption of manners) and Egypt (for tyranny and 
oppression of the people of God), w where, also, our 
Lord was crucified/ spiritually being crucified 
afresh in the sufferings of his faithful martyrs ; 
their dead bodies shall not only be publicy ex- 
posed (verse 9) but they shall be denied even the 
common privilege of burial, which is the case of 
many Protestants in popish countries ; and their 
enemies shall rejoice and insult over them, and 
shall send mutual presents and congratulations 
one to another for their deliverance from these 
1 tormentors? whose life and doctrine were a con- 
tinual reproach to them. . . . 

" Some interpreters are of opinion that this death 
and resurrection of the witnesses received its com- 
pletion in the case of John Huss and Jerome of 
Prague, who were two faithful witnesses and martyrs 
of the blessed Jesus. It is very well known that 
they were condemned to death, and afterwards burnt 



346 Protestants Bleeding : Rome Rejoicing. 

for heresy by the (Roman Catholic) Council of Con- 
stance ; which council, sitting about three years and a 
half, from November, 1414, to April, 1418, their 
bodies may that time be said to have lain ' unburied 
in the street of the great city' of Constance, where was 
the greatest assembly not only of bishops and car- 
dinals, but likewise of ambassadors, barons, counts, 
dukes, princes, and the emperor himself. But after 
the council was dissolved, these two preachers were 
restored, as it were, to life in their disciples and fol- 
lowers, who propagated the same doctrines, main- 
tained them by force of arms, as well as by preaching, 
and even vanquished the imperial forces in several 
battles. It was truly said to them, ' Come up 
hither/ when they were invited to the Council of 
Basil with a promise of redress of grievances ; but 
the council having dealt fraudulently with them, 
they broke out again in open rebellion, and ' the 
tenth part of the city fell/ the Kingdom of Bohemia 
revolted, and fell alike from its pope and emperor. 

" Others refer this prophecy to the Protestants of 
the League of Smalcald, who were entirely routed 
by the Emperor Charles V., in the battle of Mul- 
berg, on the 24th of April, 1547, when the two great 
champions of the Protestants, John Frederic, Elec- 
tor of Saxony, was taken prisoner, and the Land- 
grave of Hesse was forced to surrender himself and 
to beg pardon of the Emperor. Protestantism was 
then in a manner suppressed, and the mass restored. 
The witnesses were dead, but not buried, and the 
papists ' rejoiced over them, and made merry, and 



Resurrection of the Witnesses. 347 

sent gifts one to another.' But this joy and triumph 
of theirs were of no long continuance, for in the 
space of about three years and a half the Protestants 
were raised again at Magdeburg, and defeated and 
took the Duke of Muhlenburg prisoner in Decem- 
ber, 1550. From that time their affairs changed for 
the better almost every day ; success attended their 
arms and counsels, and the Emperor was obliged, 
by the treaty of Passau, to allow them the free exer- 
cise of their religion and to readmit them into the 
imperial chamber, from which they had, ever since 
the victory of Mulberg, been excluded. Here was 
indeed ' a great earthquake ' — a great commotion — 
in which many ' thousands were slain? and i the 
tenth part of the city fell? a great part of the Ger- 
man Empire renounced the authority and aban- 
doned the communion of the Church of Rome. 

"Some, again, may think this prophecy very ap- 
plicable to the horrid massacre of the Protestants at 
Paris, and in other cities of France, begun on the 
memorable eve of St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572. 
According to the best authors, there were slain 
thirty or forty thousand Huguenots in a few days, 
and among them, without doubt, many true wit- 
nesses and faithful martyrs of Jesus Christ. ' Their 
dead bodies lay in the streets of the great city/ one 
of the greatest cities of Europe ; for they were not 
suffered to be buried, being the bodies of heretics, 
but were dragged through the streets or thrown into 
the river, or hung upon gibbets and exposed to pub- 
lic infamy. Great rejoicings, too, were made in the 



348 Treaty with the Huguenots, 

courts of France, Rome and Spain ; they went in 
procession to the churches; they returned public 
thanks to God, they sung Te Deums, they celebrated 
jubilees, they struck medals, and it was enacted that 
St. Bartholomew's Day should ever afterwards be 
kept with double pomp and solemnity. But neither 
was their joy of long continuance, for in little more 
than three years and a half, Henry III., who suc- 
ceeded his brother, Charles IX., entered into a 
treaty with the Huguenots, which was concluded 
and published on the 14th of May, 1576, whereby 
all the former sentences against them were reversed, 
and the free and open exercise of their religion was 
granted to them. They were to be admitted to all 
honors, dignities, and offices as well as the papists, 
and the judges were to be half of one religion and 
half of the other, with other articles greatly to their 
advantage, which were in a manner the resurrection 
of the witnesses and their ascension into heaven. The 
' great earthquake,' and the falling of the tenth part 
of the city, and the slaying of thousands of men, accord- 
ing to this hypothesis, must be referred to the great 
commotions and civil wars which for several years 
afterwards cruelly disturbed and almost destroyed 
the kingdom of France." 

It would be both pleasing and instructive to fol- 
low this learned and interesting student of the 
prophecies still further, but our space forbids. The 
views expressed by Dr. Newton are the same as 
those entertained by the generality of Protestant 
biblicists who have given special attention to this 
subject. 



The Same Evil Beast 349 

In explanation of " the beast that ascendeth out 
of the bottomless pit, making war against " God's 
faithful witnesses, a well-known and highly-respected 
Bible scholar, Rev. Albert Barnes, has this to say, 
after having spoken of the many things said of this 
beast in other parts of the Scriptures: u These things 
serve to characterize the ' beast' as distinguished 
from all other things, and they are so numerous and 
definite that it would seem to have been intended 
to make it easy to understand what was meant when 
the power referred to should appear. In regard to 
the origin of the imagery here, there can be no 
reasonable doubt that it is to be traced to Daniel, 
and that the writer here means to describe the same 
1 beast ' which Daniel refers to in chapter 7 : 7. The 
evidence of this must be clear to anyone who will 
compare the description in Daniel (chap. 7) with the 
minute details of the Book of Revelation. No one, 
I think, can doubt that John means to carry forward 
the description in Daniel and to apply it to new 
manifestations of the same great and terrific power, 
the power of the fourth monarchy, on the earth. 
For full evidence that the representation in Daniel 
refers to the Roman power prolonged and perpetu- 
ated in the Papal dominion, I must refer the reader 
to the Notes on chapter vii : 25, of Daniel. (Barne's 
Notes on Daniel.) It may be assumed here that 
the opinion thus defended is correct, and conse- 
quently it may be assumed that the ' beast ' of this 
book refers to the Papal power. ■ That ascendeth out 
of the bottomless pit.' This would properly mean 



350 Truth Again Defeated. 

that its origin is the nether world ; or that it will 
have characteristics which will show that it is from 
beneath. The meaning clearly is, that which was 
symbolized by the beast would have such charac- 
teristics as to show that it was not of divine origin, 
but had its source in the world of darkness, sin and 
death. This, of course, could not represent the true 
Church, or any civil government that is founded on 
principles which God approves. But if it represent 
a community pretending to be a Church, it is an 
apostate Church ; if a civil community, it is a com- 
munity the characteristics of which are that it is 
controlled by the Spirit that rules over the world 
beneath. For reasons which we shall see in abund- 
ance in applying the descriptions which occur of 
the ' beast/ I regard this as referring to that great 
apostate power which occupies so much of the pro- 
phetic descriptions — the Papacy" 

What is said in the tenth and eleventh verses of 
the chapter before us seems to have been so literally 
fulfilled that we venture to call the reader's special 
attention to it. In plain words, the statement is 
that the enemies of true religion were so delighted 
that they had silenced God's faithful witnesses, 
whose faithful testimony to the truth has so " tor- 
mented " them that they " made merry " and " sent 
gifts to each other/' etc. They rejoiced because true 
religion seemed to be dead, and all opposition had 
come to an end. And yet in "three days and a half" 
those who seemed to be dead, again " stood upon 
their feet." Now all the accounts given us of the 



Popery Triumphant. 351 

Reformation under Luther agree in the fact that a 
little before that event Rome seemed to have crushed 
the life out of the opposition with which she had 
long had to contend. That time was during the 
session of the Council of Lateran, which was assem- 
bled A. D. 1513, and which continued its session to 
May 16, 1517. In the ninth session of this Council 
a remarkable proclamation was made, indicating 
that all opposition to the papal power had now 
ceased. The scene is thus described by Mr. Elliott 
(ii. 396, 397.) " The orator of the session ascended 
the pulpit, and amidst the applause of the assembled 
Council uttered that memorable exclamation of tri- 
umph — an exclamation which, notwithstanding the 
long multiplied anti-heretical decrees of popes and 
councils; notwithstanding the yet more multiplied 
anti-heretical crusades and inquisitorial fires, was 
never, I believe, pronounced before, and certainly 
never since : ' There is an end of resistance to the 
papal rule and religion; opposers there exist no 
more.' And again, l The whole body of Christendom 
is now seen to be subjected to its Head, i. e., to Thee! " 
This occurred May 5, 1514. " It is probably from 
this time," says Mr. Barnes, that the " three days 
and a half," or the three years and a half, (prophetic 
time) during which the dead bodies " of the wit- 
nesses " remained unburied, are to be reckoned. 

But it was with remarkable accuracy that the 
period of " three years and a half" occurred from 
the time when this proclamation was made, and 
when it was supposed that these " witnesses " were 



352 Rome Rejoicing Again. 

" dead/' to the time when the voice of living wit- 
nesses for the truth was heard again, as if those 
witnesses that had been silenced had come to life 
again ; and " not in the compass of the whole eccle- 
siastical history of Christendom, except in the case 
of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ him- 
self, is there any such example of the sudden, mighty 
and triumphant resuscitation of his Church from a 
state of deep depression, as was the case just after 
the separation of the Council of Lateran, and which 
was exhibited in the protesting voice of Luther, and 
the glorious Reformation." (See Bower's Lives of 
the Popes, iii. : 295, etc.) All accounts agree in 
placing the beginning of the Reformation in A. D. 
1517. The effect of this, as compared with the sup- 
posed suppression of heresy, or the death of the wit- 
nesses, and as an illustration of the passage before us, 
will be seen from the following language of a writer 
in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, the writer, of course, 
having no reference to the matter now before us, but 
thus he speaks of the period just preceding the 
Reformation : " Everything was quiet, every heretic 
was exterminated, and the whole Christian world 
supinely acquiesced in the enormous absurdities in- 
culcated by the Romish Church, when, in 1517, the 
empire of superstition received its first attack from 
Luther." 

Another witness we have in that most excellent 
and respected writer, Dr. Milner (History of the 
Church, p. 660, Edin. Ed., 1835.) He says : " The 
sixteenth century opened with a prospect, of all 



A " Dark Age " Indeed 353 

others, the most gloomy in the eyes of every true 
Christian. Corruption both in doctrine and in prac- 
tice had exceeded all bounds, and the general face 
of Europe, through the name of Christ was every- 
where professed, presented nothing that was prop- 
erly evangelical. The Waldenses were too feeble 
to molest the popedom, and the Hussites, divided 
among themselves, and worn out by a long series of 
contentions, were reduced to silence. Among both 
were found persons of undoubted godliness, but they 
seemed incapable of making effectual impressions 
on the Kingdom of Antichrist. The Roman pontiffs 
were still the uncontrolled patrons of impiety; 
neither the scandalous crimes of (Pope) Alexander 
VI., nor the military ferocity of Julius II. seemed to 
have lessened the dominion of the Court of Rome, 
or to have opened the eyes of men so as to induce 
them to make a sober investigation of the nature of 
true religion." Another learned writer, Mr. Cun- 
ningham, says : "At the commencement of the six- 
teenth century Europe reposed in the deep sleep of 
spiritual death under the iron yoke of the papacy. 
That haughty power, like the Assyrian of the pro- 
phet, said, in the plentitude of his insolence, ' My 
hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, 
and as one gathereth eggs, I have gathered all the 
earth, and there was none that moved the wing, or 
opened his mouth, or peeped.' " These quotations will 
show the propriety of the language used by John in 
the chapter now before us, on the supposition that 
it was intended to refer to this period. No symbol 



354 The Welcome Voice of Luther. 

would be more striking, or more appropriate to that 
state of things, than to represent the witnesses for the 
truth as overcome and " slain," so that, for a time, 
at least, they would cease to bear their testimony 
against the prevailing errors and corruptions. It 
will be remembered also that this occurred at a time 
when it might be said that they had " fulfilled " their 
testimony, or when in a most solemn manner, they 
had protested against the existing idolatries and 
abominations. 

It was at the close of the three years and a half 
that " the Spirit of life from God entered into them, 
and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell 
upon them that saw them." " When suddenly," 
says Mr. Cunningham, " in one of the Universities 
of Germany, the voice of an obscure monk was 
heard, the sound of which rapidly filled Saxony, 
Germany, and Europe itself, shaking the very foun- 
dations of the Papal power, and arousing men from 
the lethargy of ages." "And I," said John Huss, 
speaking of the gospel preachers who should appear 
after he had suffered at the stake ; "And I awaking 
as it were from the dead, and rising from the grave, 
shall rejoice with exceeding great joy." Again in 
1523, after the Reformation had broken out, we find 
Pope Hadrian saying, in a missive addressed to 
the Diet at Nuremburg, " The heretics, Huss and 
Jerome, are now alive again, in the person of Martin 
Luther." 

God has his own wise reasons for clothing the 
prophecies in the drapery of figure, and metaphor, 



Fulfilled in the Papacy. 



and symbol. One of his reasons doubtless is that 
he does not intend that their true meaning shall be 
known to men until the things predicted shall have 
taken place ; for did wicked men know beforehand 
that certain things had been predicted, they, no 
doubt, would seek to prevent their occurrence, and 
thus give God the lie. It was predicted of the true 
Messiah that they should give him gall and vine- 
gar ; that they should pierce his hands, and his 
feet ; that they should cast lots for his garments ; 
and that none of his bones should be broken. All 
these things were literally fulfilled, and yet had 
Christ's enemies understood that these prophetic 
utterances applied to the Messiah, they could have 
prevented the fulfilment of these predictions, unless 
miraculously prevented. We read the meaning 
of these prophecies in their fulfilment, or in the 
historic facts. And so, to read the eleventh chapter 
of Revelation is confusing, unless we are acquainted 
with the facts of history ; but the facts in the history 
of the Roman Catholic Church so entirely coincide 
with the predictions in this eleventh chapter of 
Revelation, that it seems almost impossible for any 
intelligent investigator of this subject to avoid the 
conclusion that these predictions have special refer- 
ence to the Papacy. 

The 12th chapter of Revelation presents us with 
most interesting reading, and should not be passed by 
by the student of the Papacy ; although it has to do 
chiefly, and almost exclusively, with the persecution 
of the Church by Pagan Rome ; but is evidently in- 



356 A Woman Clothed with the Sun. 

tended to be introductory to what God has to say in 
regard to the Papal persecutions of his true Church 
and people. (1) "And there appeared a great wonder 
in heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun, and the 
moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
twelve stars. (2) And she being with child cried, 
travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 

(3) And there appeared another wonder in heaven ; 
and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads 
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 

(4) And his tail drew the third part of the stars of 
heaven, and did cast them to the earth : and the 
dragon stood before the woman which was ready to 
be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it 
was born. (5) And she brought forth a man child 
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron ; and 
her child was caught up unto God, and to his 
throne. (6) And the woman fled into the wilder- 
ness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that 
they should feed her there, a thousand, two hun- 
dred, and three score days," etc. 

A quotation or two from eminent students of the 
prophecies will greatly assist the reader to an un- 
derstanding of this remarkable passage of Scripture. 
Bishop Newton says : " St. John resumes his subject 
from the beginning, and represents the Church as a 
woman, and a mother bearing children unto Christ. 
She is ' clothed with the sun ' — invested with the 
rays of Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness; hav- 
ing ' the moon ' — the Jewish new moons and festi- 
vals, as well as all sublunary things ; ' under her 



Red Dragon with Seven Heads. 357 

feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars ' — 
an emblem of her being under the light and guid- 
ance of the twelve apostles. ... At the same time 
1 there appeared a great dragon/ which is the well 
known sign or symbol of the Devil and Satan, and 
of his agents and instruments. That the Roman 
empire was here figured, the characters and attrib- 
utes of the dragon plainly evince. He is the ' great, 
red dragon ; ' and purple or scarlet was the distin- 
guishing color of the Roman emperors, consuls, and 
generals, as it hath been since of the popes arid car- 
dinals. His ' seven heads/ as the angel afterwards 
(xvii : 9, 10) explains the vision, allude to the seven 
mountains upon which Rome was built, and to the 
seven forms of government which successively pre- 
vailed there. His ' ten horns J typify the ' ten king- 
doms ' (see Dan. vii : 24) into which the Roman 
empire was divided ; and the ' seven crowns upon 
his heads ' denote that at this time the imperial 
power was in Rome, (the high city, as Propertius 
describes it) seated on the seven hills, which pre- 
sides over the whole world. ' His tail drew the 
third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them 
to the earth.' That is, he subjected the third part of 
the princes, and potentates of the earth ; and the 
Roman empire, as we have seen before, is repre- 
sented as ' the third part ' of the world. ' He stood 
before the woman which was ready to be delivered, 
for to devour the child as soon as it should be 
born ; ' and the Roman emperors and magistrates 
kept a jealous watchful eye over the Christians from 



358 Pagan Persecutions. 

the beginning. As Pharaoh laid snares for the 
male children of the Hebrews, and Herod for the 
infant Christ, the son of Mary, so did the Roman 
dragon for the mystic Christ, the son of the church, 
that he might destroy him even in his infancy. 
But notwithstanding the jealousy and envy of the 
Romans the gospel was Widely diffused and propa- 
gated, and the Church brought many children unto 
Christ, and in time such as were promoted to the 
empire." This is the interpretation given by the 
generality of expositors, so far as I know, except 
Romanists, and such as are tainted with Romish 
ideas in regard to the union of Church and State, etc. 
The last struggle of Pagan Rome to destroy the 
church by persecution, before the triumph of Con- 
stantine and the public establishment of the Chris- 
tian religion, might well be represented by the 
attempt of the dragon to destroy the child ; and the 
safety of the church, and its complete deliverance 
from pagan persecution, by the symbol of a child 
caught up to heaven and placed near the throne of 
God. Gibbon, the historian, by no means prejudiced 
in favor of Christianity, records the following in 
regard to the last of the ancient Pagan persecutions : 
" The next day the general edict of persecution was 
published, and though Diocletian, still averse to the 
effusion of blood, had moderated the fury of Galerius, 
who proposed that every one refusing to offer sacri- 
fice should immediately be burnt alive, the penal- 
ties inflicted on the obstinacy of the Christians 
might be deemed sufficiently rigorous and effectual. 



Last of the Pagan Persecutions. 359 

It was enacted that their churches, in all the prov- 
inces of the empire, should be demolished to their 
foundations ; and the punishment of death was pro- 
nounced against all who should presume to hold any 
secret assemblies for the purpose of religious wor- 
ship. The philosophers who now assumed the 
unworthy office of directing the blind zeal of perse- 
cution, had diligently studied the nature and genius 
of 'the Christian religion, and as they were not ignor- 
ant that the speculative doctrines of the faith were 
supposed to be contained in the writings of the 
prophets, of the evangelists, and of the apostles, 
they most probably suggested the order that the 
bishops and presbyters should deliver all their 
sacred books into the hands of the magistrates, who 
were commanded, under the severest penalties, to 
burn them in a public and solemn manner. By the 
same edict the property of the church was at once 
confiscated, and the several parts of which it might 
consist were either sold to the highest bidder, united 
to the imperial domain, bestowed on the cities and 
corporations, or granted to the solicitations of rapa- 
cious courtiers. After taking such effectual measures 
to abolish the worship and dissolve the government 
of the Christians, it was thought necessary to subject 
to the most intolerable hardships the condition of 
those perverse individuals who should still reject 
the religion of nature, of Rome, and of their an- 
cestors. Persons of a liberal birth were declared 
incapable of holding any honors or employments ; 
slaves were forever deprived of the hope of freedom, 



360 Mistaken Zeal of a True Christian. 

and the whole body of the people were put out of 
the protection of the law. The judges were in- 
structed to hear and to determine every action that 
was brought against a Christian. But the Chris- 
tians themselves were not permitted to complain of 
any injury which they themselves had suffered. . . 
" This edict was scarcely exhibited to the public 
view, in the most conspicuous place in Nicomedia, 
before it was torn down by the hands of a Christian, 
who expressed, at the same time, by the bitterest 
invectives, his contempt as well as abhorrence of 
such impious and tyrannical governors. His offence, 
according to the mildest laws, amounted to treason 
and deserved death. He was burnt, or rather roasted, 
by a slow fire ; and his executioners, zealous to re- 
venge the personal insult which had been offered to 
the emperors, exhausted every refinement of cruelty 
without being able to subdue his patience, or to alter 
the steady and insulting smile which in his dying 
agonies he still preserved in his countenance. The 
Christians, though they confessed that his conduct 
had not been conformable to the laws of prudence, 
admired the divine fervor of his zeal, and the exces- 
sive commendations which they lavished on the 
memory of their hero and martyr contributed to fix 
a deep impression on the mind of Diocletian. . . . 
But when Galerius had obtained the supreme power 
and government of the east, he indulged in their 
fullest extent his zeal and cruelty, not only in the 
provinces of Thrace and Asia, which acknowledged 
his immediate jurisdiction, but in those of Syria, 



The Rift in the Clouds. 361 

Palestine and Egypt, where Maximin gratified his 
own inclination by yielding a rigorous obedience to 
the stern commands of his benefactor. The frequent 
disappointments of his ambitious views, the expe- 
rience of six years of persecution, and the salutary 
reflections which a lingering and painful distemper 
suggested to the mind of Galerius, at length con- 
vinced him that the most violent efforts of despotism 
are insufficient to extirpate a whole people, or to 
subdue their religious prejudices. Desirous of re- 
pairing the mischief he had occasioned, he published 
in his own name, and in those of Licinius and Con- 
stantine, a general edict, which, after a pompous 
recital of the imperial titles, proceeded in the follow- 
ing manner : 

" ' Among the important cases which have occu- 
pied our mind for the utility and preservation of the 
empire, it was our intention to collect and re-estab- 
lish all things according to the ancient laws and 
public discipline of the Romans.' " (In a word, 
Gibbons tells us that the Emperor Galerius gave the 
Christians release from persecution.) " But," says 
the historian, i( this treacherous calm was of short 
duration ; nor could the Christians of the east place 
any confidence in the character of their sovereign. 
Cruelty and superstition were the ruling passions of 
the soul of Maximin. The former suggested the 
means, the latter pointed out the objects of persecu- 
tion. The emperor was devoted to the worship of 
the Gods, to the study of music, to the belief of 
oracles. The prophets, or philosophers, whom he 



362 Hypocrisy of False Religions. 

regarded as the favorites of heaven, were frequently 
raised to the government of provinces and admitted 
into his most secret councils. They easily convinced 
him that the Christians had been indebted for their 
victories to their regular discipline, and that the 
weakness of polytheism had principally flowed 
from a want of union and subordination among the 
ministers of religion. A system of government was 
therefore instituted, which was evidently copied 
from the policy of the church. In all the great 
cities of the empire the (pagan) temples were re- 
paired and beautified by the order of Maximin ; and 
the officiating priests of the various dieties were 
subjected to the authority of a superior pontiff 
destined to oppose the bishop, and to promote the 
cause of paganism. These pontiffs acknowledged in 
their turn the supreme jurisdiction of the metropoli- 
tans, or high priests, of the province, who acted as 
the immediate vicegerents of the emperor himself. 
A white robe was the ensign of their dignity, and 
these new prelates were carefully selected from the 
most noble and opulent families. By the influence 
of the magistrates and of the sacerdotal order, a 
great number of dutiful addresses were obtained, 
particularly from the cities of Nicomedia, Antioch, 
and Tyre, which artfully presented the well-known 
intentions of the court as the general sense of the 
people ; solicited the emperor to consult the laws of 
justice rather than the dictates of his clemency; 
expressed their abhorrence of the Christians, and 
humbly prayed that those impious sectaries might 



The Fierce Maximin is Dead. 363 

at least be excluded from the limits of their respec- 
tive territories. The answer of Maximin to the 
address which he received from the citizens of Tyre 
is still extant. He praises their zeal and devotion 
in terms of the highest satisfaction ; descants on the 
obstinate impiety of the Christians, and betrays by 
the readiness with which he consents to their banish- 
ment that he considered himself as receiving, rather 
than as conferring, an obligation. The priests as 
well as the magistrates were empowered to enforce 
the execution of his edicts, which were engraved on 
tables of brass ; and though it was recommended to 
them to avoid the effusion of blood, the most cruel 
and ignominious punishments were inflicted on the 
refractory Christians. 

" The Asiatic Christians had everything to dread 
from the severity of a bigoted monarch, who pro- 
posed his measures of violence with such deliberate 
policy. But a few months had scarcely elapsed 
before the edicts published by the two western 
emperors obliged Maximin to suspend the execution 
of his designs; the civil war which he so rashly 
undertook against Licinius employed all his atten- 
tion, and the defeat and death of Maximin soon 
delivered the church from the last and most implacable 
of her enemies" (Decline and Fall of the Roman 
Empire.) 

My excuse for such a lengthy quotation from this 
interesting author is the importance of the subject — 
the last effort of the Dragon, under pagan Rome, to 
destroy the church of Jesus Christ, and her deliver- 



364 Rest from Persecution. 

ance from her great enemy after three hundred 
years of persecution. The successor of Maximin on 
the imperial throne was Constantine, who gave rest 
to the church by declaring himself a Christian. 
Many learned writers have expressed their belief 
that the " man child," spoken of in Rev. xii : 5, was 
Constantine. Bishop Newton quotes the text, and 
says : " St. Paul hath made use of the same metaphor, 
and applied it to his preaching and propagating the 
gospel in the midst of tribulation and persecution. 
(Gal. iv : 19). ' My little children, of whom I travail 
in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.' But 
the words of John are much stronger, and more em- 
phatically express the pangs, and struggles, and 
torments which the church endured from the first 
publication of the gospel until the time of Constantine 
the Great, when she was in some measure eased of 
her pains, and brought forth a deliverer." He also 
quotes from another learned student of the pro- 
phecies, Mr. Winston, who says : " It is well known 
that from the first rise of pur Saviour's Kingdom, at 
his resurrection and ascension, A. D. 33, till the 
famous proclamation of Constantine, which put an 
end to the pangs of birth in the heaviest persecution 
that ever was then known," etc. At a more recent 
period Rev. Albert Barnes, in commenting on the 
same verse in Revelation, says : u It cannot be sup- 
posed that anything like this will literally occur. 
Any divine interposition to protect the church in its 
increase, or to save it from being destroyed by the 
dragon — the fierce Pagan power would be properly 



Horrible Tortures by Pagans. 



represented by this. Why may we not suppose the 
reference to be to the times of Constantine; when the 
church came under his protection; when it was 
effectually and finally saved from Pagan persecu- 
tion ; when it was rendered safe from the enemy that 
sought to destroy it ?" And this author quotes Mr. 
Gibbon as saying : " The gratitude of the church 
has exalted the virtues of the generous patron who 
seated Christianity on the throne of the Roman world." 
Before closing this chapter it will be well to men- 
tion some of the cruel methods employed by Pagan 
Rome in torturing and murdering the Christians. 
Gibbon says: "I have purposely refrained from de- 
scribing the particular sufferings and deaths of the 
Christian martyrs. It would have been an easy task, 
from the history of Eusebius ; from the declamations 
of Lactantius, and from the most ancient acts, to 
collect a long series of most horrid and most disgust- 
ful pictures, and to fill many pages with racks and 
scourges, w T ith iron hooks, and red hot beds, and all 
the variety of tortures which fire and steel, savage 
beasts, and more savage executions, could inflict on 
the human body." But this eminent author refrains 
from entering into such shocking details. From 
many reliable records, however, we are furnished 
with abundant information in regard to this painful 
subject. In regard to the last of the persecutions 
under the Pagan emperors, we are told : " Great 
numbers of Christians suffered the severest tortures 
in this persecution. . . . The human imagination 
was indeed almost exhausted in inventing a variety 



366 Man's Inhumanity to Man. 

of tortures. Some impaled alive, some had their 
limbs broken, and in that condition were left to 
expire. Some were roasted by slow fires, and some 
suspended by their feet, with the head downward, 
and a fire being placed under them, were suffocated 
by the smoke. Some had melted lead poured down 
their throats, and the flesh of some was torn off with 
shells, and others had splinters of reeds thurst under 
the nails of the fingers and toes. The few who were 
not capitally punished had their limbs and their 
features mutilated." 

In this dreadful persecution, which lasted ten 
years, houses filled with Christians were set on fire, 
and numbers of them were tied together with ropes 
and cast into the sea. It is related that seventeen 
thousand were slain in one month, and that during 
the continuance of this persecution, in the province 
of Egypt alone, no less than one hundred and forty- 
four thousand Christians died by the violence of 
their persecutors, besides seven hundred thousand 
that died through the fatigues of banishment, or the 
public works to which they were condemned. (See 
" Cyclopedia of Biblical. Theological, and Ecclesias- 
tical Literature," where numerous authorities are 
given.) This horrible work was worthy of the Great 
Red Dragon — " that old serpent, called the devil 
and Satan," who was the instigator and presiding 
genius of this Pagan onslaught on the Church of 
Christ. But this Dragon is not easily foiled or dis- 
couraged, and what he failed to accomplish through 
Pagan Rome, he hopes to accomplish through Papal 
Rome, as the following chapters will make clear. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Apocalyptic Voices, Continued. 

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a 
beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and 
ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon 
his heads the name of blasphemy. (2) And the 
beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his 
feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth the 
mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power 
and his seat and great authority. (3) And I saw 
one of his heads, at it were wounded to death, and 
his deadly wound was healed, and all the world won- 
dered after the beast. (4) And they worshipped 
the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and 
they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto 
the beast ? Who is able to make war with him ? (5) 
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking 
great things and blasphemies, and power was given 
unto him to continue forty and two months. (6) 
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against 
God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, 
and them that dwell in heaven. (7) And it was 
given unto him to make war with the saints, and to 
overcome them, and power was given unto him over 
all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. (8) And all 
that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose 
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb 
slain from the foundation of the world. (9) If any 
man have an ear, let him hear. (10) He that lead- 

367 



368 The Beast with Ten Horns. 

eth into captivity shall go into captivity ; he that 
killeth with the sword must be killed wdth the 
sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the 
saints." (Rev. xiii. : 1-10.) 

When we compare what is here said with what 
we read in the seventh chapter of Daniel, we cannot 
fail to see that in both the subject is the same. 
Daniel saw four beasts — a lion, a bear, a leopard, and 
the fourth an indescribable monster. John, in the 
chapter before us, saw a monster combining all 
these beasts in one, representing the cruel and mer- 
ciless Roman empire. Both Daniel and John saw 
these beasts " coming up out of the sea" Daniel says 
the fourth beast " had ten horns" and the interpreting 
angel told him " the ten horns are ten kings" John 
also saw the beast with ten horns, and of these also 
the angel said, " the ten horns which thou sawest are 
ten kings" 

Daniel saw that among the ten horns " there came 
up a little horn " — a simple bishop of Rome, that was 
to become in after years a boastful, arrogant, cruel 
power. Daniel says this horn had " a mouth speak- 
ing great things against the Most High." John saw 
the beast, and he had " a mouth speaking great things 
and blasphemies" "And he opened his mouth in 
blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name," 
etc. (Rev. xiii. : 6.) Daniel's " little horn " " made 
war with the saints" "And shall wear out the saints 
of the Most High, and they shall be given into his 
hand," etc. And of the beast w r hich John saw it is 
said : "And it was given unto him to make war with 



Rome a City of Seven Hills. 369 

the saints, and to overcome them." From all this it 
is certain that the seventh chapter of Daniel, and 
the thirteenth chapter of Revelation speak of the 
same things. 

As we have already had occasion to show, when 
the Roman Empire was broken up by the invasion 
of the northern hordes — the Goths, Huns, Vandals, 
etc., — the empire was divided up into " ten king- 
doms." John speaks of the same kingdoms as repre- 
sented by the beast with "seven heads and ten horns." 
The " seven heads " represented the seven hills on 
which Rome was built. This is expressly declared 
in Rev. xvii., 9 : " The seven heads are seven moun- 
tains," etc. " No doubt is to be made," says Bishop 
Newton, " that this beast w r as designed to represent 
the Roman Empire, for thus far both ancients and 
moderns, Papists and Protestants, are agreed. . . 
St. John saw this beast rising out of the sea ; but 
the Roman Empire was risen and established long 
before John's time ; and therefore this must be the 
Roman Empire, not in its then present, but in some 
future shape and form; and it arose in another shape 
and form after it was broken to pieces by the incur- 
sions of the northern nations. The beast hath ' seven 
heads and ten horns/ which are the well-known 
marks and signals of the Roman Empire, the seven 
heads alluding to the seven mountains whereon 
Rome was situated, and to the seven forms of gov- 
ernment which universally prevailed there, and the 
ten horns signifying the ten kingdoms into which the 
Roman Empire was divided. It is remarkable that 



370 Pagan or Papal ; The Same Spirit 

the dragon had ( seven crowns upon his heads ; ' 
but the beast hath £ upon his horns ten crowns ; ' 
so that there had been in the meanwhile a revolu- 
tion of power from the heads of the dragon to the 
horns of the beast, and the sovereignty which before 
was exercised by Rome alone was now transferred 
and divided among ' ten kingdoms ; ' but the Roman 
Empire was not divided into ten kingdoms until 
after it was become Christian. Although the heads 
had lost their crowns, yet they still retained ' the 
name of blasphemy.' In all its heads, in all its 
forms of government, Rome was still guilty of idol- 
atry and blasphemy. Imperial Rome was called, 
and delighted to be called, ' The Eternal City/ 
1 The Heavenly City/ ' The Goddess of the Earth/ 
'The Goddess/ and had her temples and altars, 
with incense and sacrifices offered up to her, and 
how the papal Rome likewise hath arrogated to her- 
self divine titles and honors there will be a fitter 
occasion for showing in the following part of this 
description. 

"As Daniel's fourth beast was without a name, and 
devoured and broke in pieces the three former, so this 
beast is also without a name and partakes of the 
nature and qualities of the three former, having 
the body of a leopard (which was the third beast, 
or Grecian Empire), and the feet of a bear (which 
was the second beast, or Persian Empire), and the 
mouth of a lion (which was the first beast, or Baby- 
lonian Empire), and consequently this must be the 
same as Daniel's fourth beast, or the Roman Empire. 



The Beast with a Deadly Wound. 371 

But still it is not the same beast, the same empire, 
entirely, but with some variations : 'And the dragon 
gave him his power (or his armies) and his seat (or 
his imperial throne) and great authority ' or jurisdic- 
tion over all parts of his empire.) The beast, there- 
fore, is the successor and substitute of the dragon, 
or of the idolatrous heathen Roman Empire ; and 
what other idolatrous power hath succeeded to the 
heathen emperors of Rome all the world is a judge 
and a witness. The dragon having failed in his 
purpose of restoring the old heathen idolatry, dele- 
gates his power to the beast, and thereby introduces 
a new species of idolatry, nominally different, but 
essentially the same — the worship of angels and 
saints, instead of the gods and demi-gods of 
antiquity." 

We will again remind the reader that a full 
exposition of the symbols in this book of Revela- 
tion must be sought elsewhere ; the purpose of the 
present writer is to show that the actual history of 
the Roman Catholic Church is thus far a most strik- 
ing fulfilment of the things predicted of the beasts, 
and therefore we are entirely justified in concluding 
that the Holy Spirit had the Romish Church in his 
mind when he inspired his servants to write these 
prophecies. 

The prophet saw that the beast had received a 
il deadly wound, and this deadly wound was healed." 
John saw a wound inflicted on the beast that would 
have been fatal but for a healing that was effected 
in a marvellous way. The facts here presented are 



372 How the Deadly Wound was Healed, 

simply these : The Roman Empire, once so power- 
ful, and seemingly irresistible, was soon to be so 
weakened, and peeled, and broken up that its utter 
ruin seemed inevitable, when, contrary to all that 
seemed probable, or even possible, the beast was well 
again — the empire was restored, but in another form. 
This restoration of the civil power of Rome was, as 
a distinct historical fact, effected by the Papacy. 
The whole Roman power over the world would have 
died away if it had not been restored and perpetu- 
ated by means of this new and mighty influence. 
Under this new form Rome had all the power which 
it had ever had, and was guilty of all the atrocities 
of which it had ever been guilty. It was Rome still 
Every wound that was inflicted on that power by 
the incursions of barbarians, and by the dividing 
off of parts of the empire, was healed by the 
Papacy, and under this form its dominions became 
as wide and as formidable as under its ancient mode 
of administration. 

"And they worshipped the dragon which gave 
power unto the beast; and they worshipped the 
beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast ? Who is 
able to make war with him ? " Bishop Newton says : 
" No kingdom or empire was like unto that of the 
beast. It had not a parallel upon earth, and it was 
vain for any to resist or oppose it : it prevailed and 
triumphed over all ; and all the world in thus sub- 
mitting to the religion of the beast, did in effect 
submit again to the religion of the dragon ; it being 
the old idolatry w r ith only new narnes." The worship- 



More Dragon than Lamb. 373 

ping of demons and idols (as Romanists do) is in 
effect the worshipping of devils. 

Wonderful as the beast was, his words and actions 
are no less wonderful. He perfectly resembles the 
little horn in Daniel. As the little horn had " a 
mouth speaking great things," and " spake great 
things against the Most High," so " there was given 
unto the beast a mouth speaking great things ;" 
and " he opened his mouth in blasphemy against 
God." And what can be greater things than blas- 
phemies, — than the claims of " universal bishop," 
" infallible," " sovereign of kings," and " disposer 
of kingdoms," " vicegerent of Christ," and " God 
upon earth ? " It is said (Rev. 13 : 7) of this Romish 
beast, that, " It was given unto him to make war with 
the saints, and to overcome them." We shall have 
more to say of the dreadful and wholesale murders, 
committed by the Church of Rome, a little farther 
on. Suffice it now to say that nothing in history is 
more certain than that, for ages and centuries, one 
of the chief occupations of the Romish Church was 
the torturing, and murdering of the very best men 
and women that ever lived on earth. 

John says (Rev. xiii : 11) " And I beheld another 
beast coming up out of the earth ; and he had two 
horns, like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon" Here is 
a most striking and remarkable picture of the 
Papacy. Popery makes great pretensions to piety ; 
it claims to be especially, and even exclusively, 
devoted to the salvation of souls ; it is especially 
anxious to be thought of as being gentle, and meek, 



374 The Same Old Tyranny. 

and spiritual, and lamb-like. The priests of Rome 
deal much in soft religious phrases, and are glib in 
quoting Scripture, and in these ways they practice 
the deepest hypocrisy and deception. " Whose 
coming is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness 
in them that perish," (2 Thess. 2 : 10). But this 
beast has " two horns like a lamb" but he " spake as 
a dragon" While assuming great sanctity and 
sweetness, Rome shows the dragon spirit in haugh- 
tily deposing kings ; giving away crowns, and 
kingdoms ; absolving from oaths ; sentencing thou- 
sands to gloomy dungeons of the Inquisition, and 
causing the blood of saints to flow in torrents. 

"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast be- 
fore him, and causeth the earth and them which 
dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose 
deadly wound was healed," (verse 12). The same 
amount of power, the same kind of power. This 
shows a remarkable relationship between these two 
beasts ; and proves that it was intended to refer 
to the same power substantially, though manifested 
in a different form. In the fulfilment of this, we 
should naturally look for some government whose 
authority extended far, and was absolute and arro- 
gant in its character ; for this is the power attribu- 
ted to the first beast. This description had a re- 
markable fulfilment in the papacy considered as 
a spiritual dominion. The relation to the secular 
power is the same as would be indicated by these 
two beasts ; the dominion was as widespread : the 
authority was as absolute and arrogant. In fact, on 



They Help Each Other. 375 

these points they have been identical. The one has 
sustained the other ; either one would have long 
since fallen if it had not been upheld by the other. 
The Papacy, considered as a spiritual dominion, 
was in fact a new power starting up in the same 
place as the old Roman dominion, to give life to 
it as it was tending to decay, and -to continue its 
ascendency over the world. These two things, the 
secular, and the spiritual power, constituting the 
Papacy j in the proper sense of the term, are in fact 
the continuance or prolongation of the old Roman 
dominion — the fourth kingdom of Daniel — united 
so as to constitute in reality but one kingdom, and 
yet so distinct in their origin, and in their manifes- 
tations, as to be capable of separate contemplation 
and description and thus properly represented by 
the two " beasts " that were shown in vision to the 
apostle John. (See Albert Barnes, Bishop Newton, 
and Matthew Henry, on this chapter.) 

The Romish Church claims that she has the 
power to work miracles, and boasts that this is a 
mark and proof of her apostolic origin, and divine 
commission ; but God himself teaches that her 
claim to miracle-working power is an evidence of 
her being Antichrist. "And he doeth great wonders, 
so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on 
the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them 
that dwell on the earth by the means of those 
miracles which he had power to do." We have 
already had occasion to refer to what Paul calls the 
" signs, and lying wonders," so extensively practiced, 



376 Making an Image of the Beast. 

even at the present day, by the Church of Rome. It 
is by means of winking Madonnas, and talking 
statues ; the liquifaction of the blood of St. Janua- 
rius, and a multitude of other " lying wonders," 
that Rome deceives her ignorant and superstitious 
multitudes, and holds them in servile and degrad- 
ing subjection to the Romish "Beast." 

It appears that in order to make this great system 
of iniquity the most effective, it was necessary to 
" make an image of the beast." All that is stated 
here would be fulfilled if the old Roman civil power 
should become to a large extent dead, or cease to 
exert its influence over men, and if then the Papal 
spiritual power should cause a form of domination 
to exist, strongly resembling the former in its general 
character and extent, and if it should secure this 
result — that the world should acknowledge its sway, 
or render it homage, as it did to the old Roman 
government. All this was actually accomplished 
by the Papacy, which secured the coronation of 
Charlemagne as Emperor of the West. Mr. Gibbon 
says : " It was after the Nicene Synod, and under 
the reign of the pious Irene, that the Popes con- 
summated the separation of Rome and Italy (from 
the Eastern Empire) by the translation of the empire 
to the less orthodox Charlemagne. . . . The 
title of patrician was below the merit and greatness 
of Charlemagne; and it was only by reviving the 
western empire that they could pay their obligations 
or secure their establishment. By this decisive 
measure they would finally eradicate the claims of 



Giving Life to the Image of the Beast. 377 

the Greeks; from the debasement of a provincial 
town the majesty of Rome would be restored ; the 
Latin- Christians would be united under a supreme 
head in their ancient metropolis ; and the conquerors 
of the West would receive their crown from the successors 
of St. Peter. The Roman Church would acquire a zeal- 
ous and respectable advocate, and, under the shadow 
of the Carlo vingian power, the bishop might exer- 
cise, with honor and safety, the government of the 
city." And again Mr. Gibbon says — and without 
the least reference, of course, to anything said in 
the Scriptures — " On the festival of Christmas, the 
last year of the eighth century, Charlemagne 
appeared in the Church of St. Peter ; and to gratify 
the vanity of Rome, he exchanged the simple dress 
of his country for the habit of a patrician. After 
the celebration of the holy mysteries, Leo suddenly 
placed a precious crown on his head, and the dome 
resounded with the acclamations of the people, 
1 Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious 
Augustus, crowned by God the great and pacific emperor 
of the Romans.' The head and body of Charle- 
magne were consecrated by the royal unction ; his 
coronation oath represents a promise to maintain 
the faith and privileges of the Church ; and the 
first fruits are paid in rich offerings to the shrine of 
the apostle." (Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Empire.") In connection with these quota- 
tions from Mr. Gibbon, we may add, from Sigonius, 
the oath which the Emperor took on the occasion of 
his coronation : " I, the Emperor, do engage and 



378 Charlemagne Crowned by the Pope. 

promise, in the name of Christ, before God, and the 
blessed apostle, Peter, that I will be a protector and 
defender of this holy Church of Rome, in all things 
wherein I can be useful to it, so far as divine assist- 
ance shall enable me, and so far as my knowledge 
and power shall reach." We learn also from the 
biographers of Charlemagne that a commemorative 
coin was struck at Rome, under his reign, bearing 
the inscription, " Renovatio Imperii Romani " {Re- 
vival of the Roman Empire?) These quotations will 
serve to show how the beast that " had received a 
deadly wound " was restored by the Papacy. It was 
the Papacy that " gave life to the beast." All the 
tyrannical and cruel power of Pagan Rome is now 
exercised by Papal Rome. From Charlemagne to 
Charles V., nothing was more remarkable than the 
readiness of this restored secular power to sustain 
the Papacy and to carry out its designs, or than the 
readiness of the Papacy to sustain an absolute civil 
despotism, and to make the world subject to it by 
suppressing all attempts in favor of civil liberty. 

The learned Bishop Newton, while insisting that 
the " image of the beast " was the product of Papal 
authority, expresses his conviction that by the 
" image of the beast " is meant the Pope of Rome. 
He says : " What appears most probable is that this 
image and representative of the beast is the Pope. 
He is properly the idol of the Church. He represents 
in himself the whole power of the beast, and is the 
head of all authority, temporal as well as spiritual. 
He is nothing more than a private person, without 



Kissing the Pope's Feet. 379 

power and without authority, till the two-horned 
beast, or the corrupted clergy, by choosing him 
pope, give life unto him and enable him to speak 
and utter his decrees, and to persecute, even to death, 
as many as refuse to submit to him and to worship 
him. As soon as he is chosen pope he is clothed 
with the pontifical robes, and crowned, and placed 
upon the altar, and the cardinals come and kiss his 
feet, which ceremony is called adoration. They first 
elect and then they worship him, as in the medals 
of Martin V., where two are represented as crown- 
ing the pope, and two kneeling before him, with this 
inscription, ' Quam Creant Adorant ( Whom they 
create they adore)' He is the principle of unity to 
the ten kingdoms of the beast, and causeth, as far 
as he is able, all who will not acknowledge his 
supremacy to be put to death. In short, he is the 
most perfect likeness and resemblance of the ancient 
Roman emperors ; is as great a tyrant in the Chris- 
tian world as they were in the heathen world ; pre- 
sides in the same city ; usurps the same powers ; 
affects the same titles, and requires the same uni- 
versal homage and adoration. So that the prophecy 
descends more and more into particulars, from the 
Roman State, or ten kingdoms in general, to the 
Church or clergy in particular, and still more par- 
ticularly to the person of the Pope, the head of the 
State as well as of the Church ; the king of kings, 
as well as the bishop of bishops/' (Newton On The 
Prophecies.) 

Both the views here presented are strictly and 



380 Romish Boycotting, Ancient and Modern. 

historically true. It is true that the crowning of 
Charlemagne by the Pope was the revival of the 
defunct Roman empire — the healing of the " deadly 
wound " of the beast; and it is also strictly true that 
all the tyranny and cruelty of Pagan Rome is still 
represented in the Pope. We regretfully pass over 
many things in this thirteenth chapter of Revelation 
lest this volume may become more bulky than was 
intended, but a few words must be said on verse 17, 
and especially on what is said of " buying and sell- 
ing "; "And that no man might buy or sell, save he 
that had the mark, or the name of the beast/' etc. 
Every papist carries " the mark of the beast " that 
is known to every other papist, and also to many 
who are not papists. When we see a person making 
the sign of the cross on his person when entering a 
church, or bowing before the wafer god, we know he 
has the mark of the beast, or, in other words, that he 
is a. papist. We have simply to do with the state- 
ment that only certain persons were permitted to 
" buy or sell" According to the interpretation here 
proposed the meaning is that the papacy would 
claim jurisdiction over traffic and commerce, or 
would endeavor to bring it under its control, and 
make it subservient to its own ends. Traffic or com- 
merce is one of the principal means by which prop- 
erty is acquired, and he who has control of this has, 
to a great degree, the control of the wealth of a 
nation, and the question now is whether any such 
jurisdiction has been set up, or whether such control 
has, in fact, been exercised, so that the wealth of the 



Holy Boycotting. 381 



world has been subject to papal Rome. It has been 
the manifest aim of the papacy during its entire 
history to control the world, and to get dominion 
over its wealth in order that it might accomplish its 
own purposes. But besides this there have been 
numerous specified acts more particularly designed 
to control the business of " buying and selling." It 
has been common in Rome to prohibit, by express 
law, all traffic with heretics. Thus a canon of the 
Lateran Council, under Pope Alexander III., com- 
manded that no man should entertain or cherish 
them in his house or land, or traffic with them. The 
Synod of Tours, under the same Pope Alexander, 
passed a law that no man should presume to receive 
or assist the heretics, no, not so much as to exercise 
commerce in selling or buying. And so, too, the 
Council of Constance, as expressed in Pope Martin's 
bull. (Newton, Elliott, etc.) 

It is a remarkable, although somewhat discourag- 
ing fact, that at this hour, Roman Catholics in this 
country, and especially in New England, are " boy- 
cotting " Protestants, and especially those whom they 
believe to be opposed to the election to political 
positions of those who owe their first allegiance to 
a foreign Pope. They will neither buy nor sell with 
Protestants, and they do all they can to prevent 
other worshippers of the beast from buying and selling 
with the same. It is certain that a thorough investi- 
gation of this matter would prove that this boycot- 
ting is practiced by Romanists in this country far 
more extensively than is generally supposed. 



382 Worship the Beast or Die. 

We have a very striking statement in the fifteenth 
verse of our chapter, (Rev. xiii.) for it declares that 
the chief object of giving " life to the image of the 
beast," was " that the image of the beast should both 
speak, and cause that as many as would not worship 
the image of the beast should be killed" And as a 
matter of historical fact, the popes of Rome have 
been noted for their speaking and killing. Speaking 
" like a dragon" and killing like a wild and savage 
beast. Nor can it be denied that all the persecutions 
and tortures and wholesale murders practiced by 
the papacy for a thousand years, have been for the 
purpose of compelling men to " worship the image of 
the beast." It is undeniably true that Rome has 
slaughtered her thousands, and tens of thousands, 
and hundreds of thousands of men and women, not 
because they were guilty of great immoralities and 
crimes, for her warfare has always been against the 
purest and noblest and most honorable and most 
useful of the human race. Huss, and Jerome of 
Prague, and Savanarola and Cranmer, and Ridley 
and Latimer, and the Waldenses and the Albigenses 
— these are the representatives of the victims of 
popish tyranny, and their only crime was that they 
would not worship the beast nor his image. 

No Pope ever spoke more like a dragon than 
Gregory VII. — Hildebrand. Bowers, in his " Lives 
of the Popes," in speaking of this haughty and arro- 
gant Pope, says : " Gregory was, to do him justice, a 
man of most extraordinary parts, of most uncommon 
ability, both natural and acquired, and would have 



A Tyrant Defines His Rights. 383 

had at least as good a claim to the surname of 
Great, as either Gregory or Leo, had he not, led by 
an ambition the world never heard of before, grossly 
misapplied those great talents to the most wicked 
purposes, to the establishing of an uncontrolled 
tyranny over mankind, of making himself the sole 
lord, spiritual and temporal, over the whole earth, 
becoming by that means sole disposer, not only of 
all ecclesiastical dignities and preferments, but of 
empires, states and kingdoms. That he had nothing 
less in his view sufficiently appears from his whole 
conduct, from his letters, and from a famous piece, 
containing his maxims, entitled, Dictatus Papae." 
This piece, which is found in the fifty-fifth letter of 
the second book of Gregory's epistles, contains his 
twenty-seven celebrated propositions, among which 
are the following : — 

" The Roman Pontiff alone should of right be 
styled Universal Bishop. 

" No man ought to live in the same house with 
persons excommunicated by the Pope. 

" The Pope alone can wear the imperial ornaments. 

" All princes are to kiss his foot, and pay that mark 
of distinction to him alone. 

" It is lawful for him to depose emperors. 

" No general council is to be assembled without his 
order. 

" His judgment no man can reverse ; but he can 
reverse all other judgments. 

" He is to be judged by no man. 

" No man shall presume to condemn the person 
that appeals to the apostolic See. 



384 Beast and Dragon in One. 

" The Roman church has never erred, nor will she 
ever err, according to Scripture. 

" He can depose and restore bishops without as- 
sembling a synod. 

"The Pope can absolve subjects from the oath of 
allegiance which they have taken to a bad prince." 
(All princes are bad that will not " worship the 
beast.") " And he spake as a dragon" 

In speaking of this ambitious, pompous and arro- 
gant pope, Hallam says (Middle Ages) : " But the 
disinterested love of reformation, to which candpr 
might ascribe the contention against investitures, is 
belied by the general tenor of his conduct, exhibit- 
ing an arrogance without parallel, an ambition that 
grasped at universal and unlimited monarchy. He 
may be called the common enemy of all sovereigns 
whose dignity, as well as independence, mortified 
his infatuated pride." About a century later than 
this Hildebrand, however, the papal chair was occu- 
pied by a pope quite as arrogant and tyrannical in 
his claims and usurpations, and even more brutal 
and blood-thirsty in his spirit than he. This was 
Pope Innocent III., who became pope in 1194. 
" The maxims of Gregory VII.," says Hallam, 
" were now matured by more than a hundred years, 
and the right of trampling on the necks of kings 
had been received, at least among churchmen, as an 
inherent attribute of the papacy. ' As the sun and 
moon are placed in the firmament/ says Innocent, 
1 the greater as the light of day, and the lesser of the 
night ; thus are there two powers in the church — 



England Degraded by Pope Innocent III. 385 

the pontifical, which, as having the charge of souls, 
is the greater ; and the royal, which is the less, and 
to which the bodies of men only are intrusted.' 
Thus claiming universal supremacy over all govern- 
ments, powers, and authorities, whether spiritual or 
temporal. 

"It was this same Pope Innocent who humbled two, 
at least, of proud England's kings — Richard Coeur 
de Lion and King John — compelling Richard and 
his Archbishop to demolish the palace of Lambeth, 
which they were erecting contrary to the Pope's will, 
and compelling King John to surrender his crown 
and kingdom to the Pope, and then humbly to re- 
ceive them again from his Holiness, acknowledging 
before all the world that he was the Pope's vassal 
and England a part of the patrimony of St. Peter." 

Hume, in his History of England, referring to the 
effects of the interdict that was laid on the English 
nation by the Pope in order to punish the King, and 
bring him to submission, says : " The execution was 
calculated to strike the senses in the highest degree, 
and to act with irresistible force on the superstitious 
minds of the people. The nation was, of a sudden, 
deprived of all exterior exercise of its religion ; the 
altars were despoiled of their ornaments ; the crosses, 
the relics, the images, the statues of the saints, were 
laid on the ground ; and as if the air itself were pro- 
faned, and might pollute them by its contact, the 
priests carefully covered them up, even from their 
own approach and veneration. The use of bells 
entirely ceased in all the churches ; the bells them- 



386 Awful Effects of an " Interdict" 

selves were removed from the steeples, and laid on 
the ground with the other sacred utensils. Mass 
was celebrated with closed doors, and none but the 
priests were admitted to that sacred institution. The 
laity partook of no religious rite, except the com- 
munion to the dying ; the dead were not interred in 
consecrated ground ; they were thrown into ditches 
or buried in common fields, and their obsequies 
were not attended with prayers or any hallowed 
ceremony. Marriage was celebrated in the church- 
yard, and that every action in life might bear the 
marks of this dreadful situation, the people were 
prohibited the use of meat, as in Lent, or times of 
the highest penance ; were debarred from all pleas- 
ures and entertainments, and were forbidden even 
to salute each other, or so much as to shave their 
beards, or give any decent attention to their apparel. 
Every circumstance carried symptoms of deepest 
distress, and of the most immediate apprehension of 
divine vengeance and indignation." These grave 
and awful consequences of the interdict, acting on 
the superstitious fears of the King, operated to bring 
him to the Tyrant's terms. 

It was this Pope Innocent III. that treated with 
the greatest insult and cruelty the Count Raymond, 
of Toulouse, because he refused to enter upon the 
wholesale murder of his own unoffending subjects. 
In the year 1207 Count Raymond was required by 
the pope's legate to sign a treaty with other neigh- 
boring princes to engage in the extermination of 
the heretics. But the Count was by no means in- 



A Savage Letter from a Pope's Legate. 387 

clined to do anything that would cause his states to 
be overrun by hostile armies for the purpose of 
slaughtering such of his subjects as the Romish 
priests might choose as the victims of their cruelty. 
He therefore refused to engage in the butchery, and 
the Legate, in his insolent fury, excommunicated 
him and laid his country under an interdict. The 
Pope confirmed what his Legate had done, and with 
his own hand wrote the following savage letter to 
Count Raymond : " If we could open your heart we 
should find, and would point out to you, the detest- 
able abominations that you have committed ; but as 
it is harder than the rock, it is in vain to strike it 
with the sword of salvation ; we cannot penetrate it. 
Pestilential man ! what pride has seized your heart, 
and what is your folly, to refuse peace with your 
neighbors and to brave the divine laws by protect- 
ing the enemies of the faith ? If you do not fear 
eternal flames, ought you not to dread the temporal 
chastisements which you have merited by so many 
crimes ?" 

Terrified by the thunders of the Vatican, and 
knowing that the Pope was determined to destroy 
him unless he submitted, Count Raymond saw no 
alternative but to yield to the Pope, and so he en- 
gaged to exterminate the heretics from his terri- 
tories. Peter of Castelnau, the Pope's Legate, soon 
went to the Count and sternly rebuked him for his 
want of zeal in the bloody work, and insolently 
charged him with baseness and perjury, and as a 
favorer of heretics, and a tyrant. Raymond was 



388 Pope Innocent Hates Heretics. 

greatly provoked at the Legate's insolence, and 
threatened to make him pay for it with his life. 
They parted without a reconciliation, and came to 
sleep at a little inn on the bank of the Rhine, which 
river they intended to pass on the following morn- 
ing. On that morning one of Count Raymond's 
friends entered into a dispute with the Legate on 
the subject of heresy and its punishment, and feeling 
insulted at the language of the insolent priest, he 
drew his dagger and killed him on the spot. The 
report of this murder coming to the ears of the 
Pope, he was filled with rage, and immediately pub- 
lished a bull addressed to all the counts, barons and 
knights of the four provinces of the northern part of 
France, in which he declared it was the devil who 
had instigated the Count of Toulouse against the 
Holy See. He laid under interdict all places that 
should afford a refuge to the murderers of his 
legate Castelnau; he demanded that Count Ray- 
mond should be publicly anathematized in all the 
churches, adding that, " as following the canonical 
sanctions of the holy fathers, we must not observe faith 
towards those who keep not faith towards God, or who 
are separated from the communion of the faithful. 
We discharge, by apostolical authority, all those 
who feel themselves bound towards this Count by 
any oath either of allegiance or fidelity ; we permit 
every Catholic man, saving the right of his prin- 
cipal lord, to pursue his person, to occupy and retain 
his territories, especially for the purpose of exter- 
minating heresy." The Count, now thoroughly 



Treachery of an Infallible Pope. 389 

terrified, declared himself ready to submit to any- 
thing, even to becoming the executioner of his own 
subjects, in order to escape the storm which he saw 
was now gathering for his destruction. 

Count Raymond now sent ambassadors to the 
Pope to make known his submission, and to await 
the commands of his Holiness. The Pope demanded 
that Raymond should make common cause against 
the heretics and assist in their extermination, and 
that he should surrender to him seven of his prin- 
cipal castles, as a pledge of his sincerity. On these 
conditions the Pope not only gave Raymond the 
hope of absolution, but promised him his entire 
favor. All this, however, was hollow and deceitful ; 
for when making these promises he wrote to the 
ecclesiastics who were conducting the crusade 
against the heretics, thus : " We counsel you, with 
the apostle Paul, to employ guile with regard to this 
Count; for in this case it ought to be called pru- 
dence. We must attack separately those who are 
separated from unity. Leave for a time the Count 
of Toulouse, employing toward him a wise dissimu- 
lation, that the other heretics may be the more 
easily defeated, and that afterwards we may crush 
him when he shall be left alone." Such were the 
means this crafty and tyrannical Pope thought fit 
to employ even against Roman Catholic princes 
who were not inclined to be over-zealous in exe- 
cuting the murderous plans of this " holy " vicar of 
the meek and lowly Jesus ! 

Count Raymond was ordered to repair to the 



390 The Pope a Cruel Master. 

Church that he might receive absolution from the 
Pope's legate. But before this was granted he was 
required to take a solemn oath upon the Corpus 
Domini, (that is, the consecrated host) and upon the 
relics of the saints, that he would obey the Pope and 
the holy Roman Church, so long as he lived ; that 
he would pursue the Albigenses with fire and sword 
till they were totally exterminated, or subjected to 
the Pope. Having taken this oath at the door of 
the Church, he was ordered by the Legate to strip 
himself naked, and humbly submit to the penance 
imposed on him for the death of the monk, Peter 
Castelnau. Count Raymond earnestly protested 
against this humiliating penance, solemnly assert- 
ing that he had no part in the murder of the monk. 
But his protestations were all in vain. The great 
army of the crusaders was at his gates, and he 
had no resource but unqualified submission to the 
popish tyrants who now held him in their grasp. 
" The Count having stripped himself naked from 
head to foot, with only a linen cloth around his 
waist, for decency's sake, the Legate threw a priest's 
stole around his neck, and leading him by it into 
the Church, nine times around the pretended mar- 
tyr's grave, he inflicted the discipline of the Church 
by lashing the humble prince upon his naked body 
with a scourge he had provided for the purpose." 
(See' Bower's History of the Popes : Dowling's His- 
tory of Romanism, etc.) 

The real name of this proud, ambitious, and 
tyrannical pope, was Lothario Conti ; but when he 



Pope Innocent not an Innocent Pope. 391 

became pope he chose the name of Innocent ! This 
assuming a name suggestive of an attribute univer- 
sally ascribed to the lamb — " as innocent as a lamb " 
— while exhibiting in his life and conduct the 
savage ferocity of the leopard, and bear, is singularly 
suggestive, in view of the text that has been before 
us — "And I beheld another beast coming up out 
of the earth ; and he had two horns like a lamb, and 
he spake as a Dragon." In view of what we have 
already seen, who can doubt that the popes, and 
the whole hypocritical system of the Papacy, are in- 
tended, since they so perfectly agree with the pro- 
phetic description. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
A Chapter of Horrors. 

The growing spirit of independence among the 
princes of Southern France, which Innocent III. felt 
sure gave encouragement to the heretics, and tended 
to increase their numbers, made him still more 
furious against the Albigenses, whom he determined 
to destroy from the face of the earth. He proclaimed 
a crusade against those humble followers of Christ, 
and sent forth a multitude of priests throughout all 
Europe, to exhort all to engage in this Holy War 
against the enemies of his Holiness, the Pope, and of 
the "Holy Catholic Church." It was certainly the 
purpose of this Innocent and lamblike Pope, that "as 
many as would not worship the image of the beast 
should be killed." To this end he addressed a 
bull to all who were capable of assisting in the de- 
struction of the Count of Toulouse and his in- 
offensive subjects. In particular, the Pope addressed 
a letter to Philip Augustus, King of France, urging 
him to engage personally in this sacred war of ex- 
termination against heretics. " We exhort you," 
said the Pope, " that you would endeavor to destroy 
this wicked heresy of the Albigenses, and to do this 
with more vigor than you would toward the Saracens 
themselves. Persecute them with a strong hand ; 
deprive them of their lands and possessions ; banish 
them, and put Roman Catholics in their room." 

He stirred up the bigoted brotherhood of Citeaux, 

392 



Murder Merits Heaven. 393 

Bernardines, to take the lead in this murderous 
assault on the Albigenses, nominating their abbot, 
Arnold Amalric, as his Legate, and sending them 
forth to overrun the neighboring provinces with 
havoc, fire, and sword. He sent forth his priests 
and monks to excite the people to engage in this 
holy crusade. Transported with joy, those infatu- 
ated mortals, encouraged with the prospect of plun- 
dering and ravishing, and shedding heretic blood 
without restraint, flocked to the standards of the 
Duke of Burgundy, the Count of Leicester, Simon 
de Montfort, and other military leaders. Never be- 
fore had there been such a popular crusade ! Arnold 
Amalric, the Abbot of Citeaux, distinguished him- 
self, with his whole congregation, by his zeal in 
preaching up this war of extermination. In the 
name of the Pope, and of the apostles Peter and 
Paul, they promised to all who should lose their 
lives in this holy crusade, plenary absolution of all 
sins committed from the day of their birth to that 
of their death, and a sure admission into Paradise. 

A vast army had been started on the march, 
which, according to the lowest estimate, numbered 
fifty thousand regular troops, besides thousands of 
disorderly followers, who joined them in order to 
share the plunder, and the blessings promised by 
the Holy Father to all who should take part in mur- 
dering heretics. Count Raymond had a nephew, 
Roger, the Viscount of Beziers, who was a much 
braver man than himself, and whose territories were 
doomed to be swept by fire and death, as well as 



394 The Brave Roger, of Beziers. 

those of his uncle, of Toulouse. This brave young 
Lord, anxious to save his people from the mighty 
wave of desolation and death now threatening them, 
appeared before Arnold, the haughty Legate, and 
offered to make every concession consistent with his 
honor. He pleaded again his unshaken fidelity to 
the Church, and solemnly declared that he had 
never given encouragement to heretics, or done any- 
thing to injure the Church, or displease the Pope. 
But all his protestations and appeals were unavail- 
ing. The Legate was thirsting for blood, and the 
brave young prince, Roger, turned away, deter- 
mined to defend his people and his estates to the 
last extremity. Chassenueil was the first fortress 
that offered a determined resistence, and here the 
bloody work commenced. The majority of the de- 
fenders of this place were Roman Catholics, and 
faithful slaves of the Pope, and in order to weaken 
their hands the Legate advanced at the head of the 
army, tricked out in all his sacerdotal paraphernalia, 
and having the wafer god borne in front of him, thus 
making it appear that God himself was leading the 
bloodthirsty armies of the crusades, and that all who 
opposed the armies of the Pope were fighting against 
God. There can be no doubt that this appeal to 
their superstition had no little influence in para- 
lyzing the efforts of the defenders of the fortress. 
And then the banners that floated over that destroy- 
ing host bore the figure of the cross, to fight against 
which, as many of them believed, was to fight against 
Christ himself. Besides all this, the Romish histo- 



Priests Sing while Heretics Burn. 395 

rians of these events themselves proudly tell us that 
the music of this advancing host was not the bugle 
and drum and cornet; not the martial music by 
which warriors are inspired for the deadly onset, 
but the loud voices of a multitude of priests, who, 
arrayed in their robes, and surrounding the wafer 
god of their base idolatry, pealed forth in mighty 
chorus the Latin hymn, "Veni Creator Spiritus." 
What an insult to God ! What horrible blasphemy ! 
After some hard fighting the garrison of Chassenueil 
were compelled to capitulate, and obtained permis- 
sion to march out, but no terms were listened to in 
respect to the unarmed inhabitants. It was known 
that there were many in the city " who refused to 
worship the beast, and they must be killed ; " accord- 
ingly, as the historian tells us, they were abandoned 
to the merciless host, who permitted the soldiers to 
depart, and then burst in upon the helpless citizens. 
It was their first prize, the first fruits of their san- 
guinary toils, and whatsoever of unbounded crime 
and cruelty was suggested to their minds, that they 
perpetrated. " To select the followers of a true faith 
from among the inhabitants was not worth their 
while. When nothing more was left for their vic- 
tims to suffer but death, these wretched criminals 
kindled fires wheresoever they could, and amid the 
applauding acclamations of the crusaders, and the 
triumphant Te Deums of the priesthood, they hurled 
them all into the flames" 

Chassenueil having fallen, and leaving nothing 
but a blackened heap of ruins, sprinkled far and 



396 Brave Men Hurl Defiance. 

wide with the bones and ashes of those who had 
been burned in heaps within it, the next point of 
attack was Beziers. The brave young Roger had 
determined to make every effort to defend his two 
principal cities, Beziers and Carcassone, and for this 
purpose had divided between them his military 
forces. About the middle of July, 1209, the Pope's 
army arrived at Beziers and encamped outside the 
walls in three divisions. Before an attack was made 
the Bishop, having assembled the people in the 
cathedral, addressed them and sought to excite their 
fears by describing in the most alarming terms the 
awful miseries that await them unless they agree to 
give up to destruction their neighbors and friends 
who were offensive to the Pope. He assured them 
that this was the demand of the Legate, Arnold, and 
in no other way could they preserve themselves, their 
wives and children from the horrors of such pillage 
and massacre as would follow a successful assault 
upon their city, and their souls from the dreadful 
wrath of heaven and the church. It was an awful 
moment for the people of Beziers, for like swarms of 
locusts the army of blood-thirsty bigots were spread 
over the surrounding country, and ready to pounce 
upon their prey. The people paused for a moment, 
as if fully realizing their fearful position, and then 
they cried, " No ! Tell the Legate that our city is 
good and strong — that in this, our great necessity, 
the Lord our God will not fail to succor us; and 
that rather than be guilty of such an act of 
treachery we will eat our own children." 



Thirsting for More Blood. 397 

The ordinary population of Beziers was fifteen 
thousand ; but at this time, it is said, not less than 
sixty thousand people were in the city, multitudes 
having come in from the surrounding districts, and 
especially women and children. As the defenders 
of the city surveyed the enemy from the towers and 
walls, and noticed that they were engaged in form- 
ing and settling their camp, they considered it the 
most favorable moment for rushing down upon 
them while they were off their guard and not ex- 
pecting an attack, and so they formed in a body and 
made a furious attack upon the crusaders. These, 
however, had the advantage in numbers, in ferocity, 
and in being inured to deeds of blood. The enemy's 
infantry sustained the shock, and then, becoming 
the assailants, they turned the disheartened citizens 
back, and in one dense mass of pursuers and pur- 
sued, they all entered the gates together. Beziers 
was in the hands of the crusaders. As a massacre 
of the heretics was decided on, some of the leaders 
of the pope's army asked Arnold, the Legate, how 
they should distinguish the Catholics from the 
heretics, to which he made this reply — " Kill them 
all; the Lord will know well those that are his." While 
this was going on the poor devoted flock crowded 
into the churches, hoping to find a refuge ; but the 
wolves of Rome, thirsting for blood, pursued their 
prey even into the most sacred places. The large 
cathedral church of St. Nicaise was completely 
thronged ; and the canons, ministers as they were of 
the Romish religion, putting on their sacerdotal 



398 Sixty Thousand Murdered. 

habit, which they felt sure would be a sufficient 
protection against the soldiers of their own faith, 
ranged themselves round the altar. No voice of 
supplication nor cry for mercy could have been 
heard amid the din, and the crash, and the shrieks 
of that fearful scene of blood ; but the clergy sounded 
the bells in solemn and appealing tones, hoping in 
that way to touch the hearts of the furious assail- 
ants. All in vain ! " The tide of cowardly massacre 
rolled on ; cut down and crushed beneath the armed 
heel, and mangled with the spear, one after another 
the victims fell as the blood-stained fanatics ap- 
proached the altar ; and there the canons fell also, 
hurled upon the general heap, while the progress of 
the work was marked by the ceasing of successive 
bells, as the hands that tolled them fell powerless in 
death, and the silence that followed the last sad 
note proclaimed the consummation of that fearful 
massacre. The dead bodies that lay bathed in blood 
on the. pavement of one church, the Magdalen, 
amounted to seven thousand. The babe at its 
mother's breast, the aged man beneath his daugh- 
ter's arms, vainly uplifted to defend his silver locks, 
while her own bright ringlets were dripping blood. 
Yes, they killed them all /" " Of the sixty thousand in 
the city," says the historian, " not one person was 
spared alive" 

This fearful massacre was soon accomplished, 
since no resistance could be offered, and then the 
invaders, like vultures, pounced upon the prey. 
From the valued heirloom of the humble cottage, to 



Roger's Brave Defense of Carcassone. 399 

the costly elegancies of the palace and the mansion, 
all became the spoil of the holy crusaders. As all 
these fearful crimes were committed in the name of 
religion and for the glory of God, masses were cele- 
brated and thanksgivings pealed forth from thou- 
sands of voices to the God of love, and holiness, and 
peace ! while the blood of his saints that day shed 
like water on every side, coagulated on the very spot 
where those blood-stained worshippers stood ; and 
the unburied corpses, with glassy stare fixed on the 
calm, blue sky, seemed to offer their mute appeal to 
that blasphemed and insulted Deity, who declares, 
" Vengeance is mine : I will repay." When the cru- 
saders had massacred the last human being in 
Beziers, and had pillaged the houses of all they 
thought worth carrying off, they set fire to the city 
in every part at once, reducing it to a vast funeral 
pile, consuming it with its sixty thousand slaughtered 
inhabitants, and " not a house was left standing." 

Having slaughtered all the inhabitants of Beziers, 
and laid the noble city in ashes, the worshippers of 
the beast turned their faces toward Carcassone, into 
which the inhabitants of the surrounding country, 
in their terror, had fled, hoping to find a refuge from 
the death-dealing weapons of the crusaders. This 
city was better fortified than Beziers, and the brave 
young Roger had put forth his utmost efforts to 
prepare it and its people to resist the attacks of the 
ferocious legate and his bloodthirsty general-in-chief, 
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, " whose char- 
acter stands out in frightful prominence, embodying 



400 The Legate's Terms Rejected. 

all that was most flagitious in perfidy ; most grasp- 
ing in avarice and ambition ; most pitiless in cruelty, 
and most grovelling in the debasing superstition, 
of which he was the abject slave. Nothing could 
better accord with the bent of this man's mind than 
the present war with the saints. He hated with 
deadly venom the faith and the followers of Jesus, 
and sweet to his spirit must have been the dying 
cries that resounded through Beziers." 

During eight days of furious fighting, Roger and 
his brave army of defenders defeated all the at- 
tempts of the enemy to capture the city, although 
after again and again driving back the assailants, 
and inflicting on them considerable loss, he felt it 
necessary to abandon the weakly fortified suburbs ; 
and after deliberately setting fire to the buildings 
that composed it, he retired into the city. The king 
to whom Raymond Roger had vowed fealty was 
Peter II., King of Arragon, who was also his uncle. 
He having ascertained from Count Roger his wil- 
lingness to submit to any fair and honorable terms 
of capitulation for the sake of the thousands of help- 
less people who had sought safety within the walls 
of his city, and who must certainly perish in a pro- 
tracted siege ; " but for whom/' said the Count, " I 
swear to your Majesty, that I and my people would 
rather die of famine than surrender to the Legate." 
The cruel and haughty Arnold, as a matter of 
special grace to his Majesty's kinsman, condescended 
to consent to Raymond Roger leaving the city, to- 
gether with any twelve persons whom he might 



The Legate Resorts to Treachery. 401 

choose to take with him ; but the interests of the 
holy church demanded that, with this exception, all 
should be abandoned to her mercy — which meant, 
of course, such mercy as she extended to the sixty 
thousand people of Beziers. When the King made 
his report to the anxious people of Carcassone 
their noble Prince Roger's indignant reply was, 
" Rather will I submit to be flayed alive ! The 
Legate shall not have at his mercy the least of my 
companions, who for my sake have braved the 
dangers that surround us." 

Very soon after this a furious assault was made on 
the walls of the city, the soldiers endeavoring to fill 
the ditches with faggots in order to reach the ram- 
parts. As they were about to scale the walls a 
sudden deluge of boiling oil and water was let loose 
upon them, while stones, bars of iron and missiles of 
every description were hurled upon them from the 
walls, and this was repeated every time the besiegers 
returned to the charge. Baffled in every attempt to 
take the city, and seeing no signs of those miracles 
being wrought in their favor which their priests 
had taught them to expect, signs of discouragement 
began to appear throughout the camp of the cru- 
saders. The Legate now determined to accomplish 
by treachery and lying what his armies had so far 
failed to achieve by fighting. For this purpose he 
made use of a gentleman who had been on very in- 
timate terms with the brave and noble Roger. This 
gentleman assured him that he would find it to his 
interest to appear personally before the Legate, and 



402 Roger Deceived and Made Prisoner. 

he feeling sure that could he have an opportunity 
of pleading his own cause, and the cause of his 
people, which he knew to be just and righteous, and 
would succeed in securing favorable terms, and save 
from destruction the thousands who had put them- 
selves under his protection. Having received the 
most solemn pledge of safety in coming and return- 
ing, from the Legate himself, and the sworn assur- 
ances of his officers, Roger placed himself at the 
head of three hundred chosen knights and appeared 
before the Pope's representative. 

In a speech full of the noblest sentiments he 
pleaded the cause of his persecuted people as well as 
his own. In the course of his remarks he took the 
liberty to suggest to the Legate the propriety of ex- 
ercising a little more lenity and moderation in his 
dealings with his subjects as a procedure that might 
have the happiest tendency in reclaiming the Al- 
bigenses into the pale of the Church of Rome. The 
Legate replied that the people of Carcassone might 
exercise their own pleasure, but that it was now 
unnecessary for the Earl to trouble himself any fur- 
ther about them, as he was himself a prisoner until 
Carcassone was taken, and his subjects had better 
learned their duty ! " In a moment the overpower- 
ing rush of armed men decided the matter. Ray- 
mond Roger was disarmed, bound, and delivered as 
a traitor to the custody of the dark and merciless 
Simon de Montfort. His knights were in like man- 
ner seized, and within sight of the agonized citizens 
of Carcassone, all were led away into captivity, to 



The Subterranean Passage. 403 

what fate might easily be conjectured. The shout 
of anticipated triumph, of unbounded vengeance, 
rose high from the perfidious camp towards the 
walls of the city." 

No sooner had the people of Carcassone become 
aware of the treachery practiced towards their almost 
idolized leader than they burst into tears, and gave 
themselves up for lost. Well they knew that Rome 
shows no mercy. Their first thought now was how 
to save themselves and their loved ones from death. 
But situated as they were, hemmed in on all sides 
by thousands who thirsted for their blood, their 
situation seemed desperate and helpless. The start- 
ling report was spread, however, that there was 
somewhere in the city an entrance to a subterranean 
passage that led to the castle of Cabaret, a distance 
of about nine miles. The entrance to this secret 
passage was found, and at the beginning of the 
night they all made their escape, taking with them 
only enough food to serve through a few days. " It 
was a dismal and sorrowful sight to witness their 
removal and departure," says the historian, " ac- 
companied with sighs, tears, and lamentations, at 
the thought of quitting their habitations and all 
their worldly possessions, and betaking themselves 
to the uncertain event of saving themselves by 
flight ; parents leading their children, and the more 
robust supporting decrepit old persons, and espe- 
cially to hear the affecting lamentations of the 
women." They, however, arrived the following day 
at the castle, from whence they dispersed themselves 



404 The Holy Assassins Disappointed. 



through different parts of the country, some going 
to Arragon, some to Cattalonia, others to Toulouse, 
and the cities belonging to their party, wherever 
God in his providence opened a door for their 
admission. 

Great must have been the surprise of the assail- 
ants, as, on the following morning they found the 
city abandoned, and great, no doubt, was their in- 
dignation as they found themselves robbed of their 
feast of blood. 

It would be instructive and sadly interesting to 
dwell at large on the sufferings of the brave and 
noble Albigenses, but the limits of this work will 
permit us to give merely some of the prominent 
facts connected with the horrible cruelties inflicted 
on them by the two inhuman monsters, Arnold and 
Simon de Montfort, by the authority, and with the 
approval of " his holiness" Innocent III., the infal- 
lible vicar of that " meek and lowly " Jesus, who de- 
clared : " The Son of man is not come to destroy men's 
lives, but to save them" (Luke ix. : 56.) And let it 
be remembered that we derive our authority for the 
facts here recorded from Roman Catholic writers 
themselves, among whom is the brutal Pope, who is 
a witness against himself, in his " Epistles." And 
the popish monk, Peter de Vaux Cernay, who was 
an eye witness of many of these atrocious scenes, has 
left a record of what he saw and knew, and expresses 
almost unbounded delight at the slaughter of the 
" heretics." The testimony of these Romish wit- 
nesses is to be found in Sismondi's " History of the 
Italian Republics," and other of his works. 



Murder of Four Hundred and Fifty Heretics. 405 



Carcassone having fallen into the hands of the 
crusaders, the Legate, with great formality and pomp, 
took possession of the deserted city, confiscating all 
the property in the interest of the Church, and 
caused it to be reported that the escape of the people 
was due to his gracious permission. Scouts from the 
army of the crusaders, in scouring the country in 
search of heretics, had brought in a number of poor, 
harassed creatures who were trying to escape. Some 
of these were overtaken in the mountain passes, and 
some were found hiding in the forests. Many of 
these were women — mothers, with their infants and 
loving sisters, young women who were ready to ex- 
pose themselves to any peril in order to save their 
brothers and sisters, many of them fatherless and 
motherless, from their savage and bloodthirsty ene- 
mies. From all these, Arnold, the Legate, selected 
four hundred and fifty persons, as being justly sus- 
pected of heresy, and condemned them to be exe- 
cuted. For some reason or other he directed that 
fifty of these should be put to death by hanging, 
while four hundred were burnt alive. The last sparks 
of the martyr fires had died away, and ghastly 
corpses of the slain swayed to and fro, as they still 
hung suspended from their gibbets, and none sur- 
vived but the noble Roger in his gloomy and dismal 
dungeon. In the place of the once happy inhabi- 
tants of Carcassone were to be seen the motley and 
eager multitudes whose hands were blood-stained 
from the slaughter of the people of God. 

Superadded to the mighty wrongs inflicted by 



406 Earl Roger Robbed and Poisoned. 

Arnold on Earl Roger, he expressed his determina- 
tion to give his estates to some nobleman devoted 
to the Pope. After having been offered to three 
different persons, and the offer refused out of regard 
for the rights of the noble prisoner, they were offered 
to the cruel Simon de Montfort and eagerly ac- 
cepted, and as the rightful ruler, although now a 
prisoner, might still prove to be a dangerous rival, 
Montfort caused him to be put to death by poison. 

In the year 1210, Montfort caused Count Ray- 
mond, uncle of Roger, to be again excommunicated, 
and this weak and superstitious man, standing in 
awe of the papal thunder, burst into tears. The 
holy monks and priests w T ere intensely active in the 
north of France in raising a new army of crusaders, 
and as soon as they had put themselves under the 
banners of Montfort, he again gave full scope to his 
cruelty. Previous to the mustering in of this new 
army, some of the ruling lords began to show their 
disgust with the brutal tyranny of de Montfort, and 
a disposition to resist his aggressions. The King of 
Arragon had broken off all negotiations with him, 
and uniting his forces with those of the surround- 
ing chiefs, they were so successful in repelling the 
usurper, that at the end of a few months they had 
captured nearly two hundred of the cities and fort- 
resses that were in the hands of the tyrant. He, 
however, reinforced with this new army of recruits, 
each of whom had been blessed by the priests, and 
made perfectly sure that the killing of heretics is a 
most meritorious work, and highly pleasing to God, 



De Montfort and His Wife well Mated. 407 

entered upon the work of recovering what he had 
lost. These troops, enlisted for the express purpose 
of wholesale and indiscriminate massacre, were led 
to the scene of their cruel exploits by a woman! 
Alice de Montmorency, the wife of de Montfort, 
headed the fresh host, whose approach gladdened 
the fiendish heart of her husband, and was a pre- 
sage of new horrors for the saints of the Lord. 

Placing himself at the head of the army, he com- 
menced his furious campaign, attacking one castle 
after another on his way, dragging forth the in- 
habitants and hanging them on gibbets, and then 
passing on to the next. In this way he swept over 
the country like a fury from the bottomless pit, 
taking special vengeance on those whose special 
bravery, or strength of position, caused him delay. 
On such he inflicted the most horrible cruelties. 
For instance, Brom having a strong castle, and 
very determined defenders, occupied him three 
days in reducing it, and when he had done so he 
selected more than a hundred of the inhabitants, 
and with the most ferocious barbarity he caused their 
eyes to be torn out, and their noses to be cut off. and 
having left one single individual with one eye, to be 
the guide of the rest, he sent them to the castle of 
Cabaret to intimate to the garrison of that place the 
fate that awaited them. Some of these fortresses he 
found deserted, and he sent out his soldiers to de- 
stroy the vines and olive trees and other valuable 
property in the surrounding country. 

In the month of June, 1210, Montfort, with his 



408 Must Have His Feast of Blood, 

popish army, appeared before the walls of Menerbe, 
a castle that was perched on a lofty rock, and sur- 
rounded on all sides with precipices that made it 
difficult of approach. This was considered to be the 
strongest fortress in southern France, and it was de- 
fended by Guiard, one of the bravest of the loyal 
knights who had been devotedly attached to the 
brave and unfortunate Raymond Roger, and now 
held the castle for his infant son, the lawful in- 
heritor of his possessions. This place contained 
more Albigenses than any place thus far assailed, 
thus making it a most tempting prize to the cruel 
Legate and his chief butcher, de Montfort. After 
seven weeks of the most determined efforts on the 
part of both besiegers and besieged, the serious want 
of water compelled the brave Guiard to seek terms 
of capitulation, and when terms of surrender had 
been agreed on between Montfort and Guiard, in 
the absence of the Legate, he, on his return, broke 
up the agreement, for no other apparent reason than 
that the terms were too favorable to the heretics, and 
would deprive him, to some extent, of his antici- 
pated feast of blood. The monk, Peter de Vaux 
Cernay, who records these facts, and who gloried in 
all the sufferings of God's saints, says : " When the 
terms of the capitulation were read in the council of 
war, Robert de Mauvoisin, a nobleman, and entirely 
devoted to the Catholic faith, cried that the pilgrims 
(crusaders) would never agree to that," — permitting 
such as should be converted to the Catholic faith 
to live — that it was not to show mercy to the here- 



Sadly Preparing for Death. 409 



tics they had taken the cross, but to put them to death ; 
but Arnold replied, " Be easy, for I believe there 
will be but very few of them converted." 

With feelings of deep anguish, the noble Guiard 
was compelled to surrender the fortress. It was as 
if a faithful shepherd were compelled to abandon 
his sheep to the tender mercies of a pack of hungry 
wolves. Soon was presented a scene that must have 
shocked the very angels in heaven. First came the 
banners of de Montfort, preceded by a cross. Then 
followed a band of holy priests in full canonicals, 
blasphemously chanting the Te Deum, and these 
were followed by soldiers of Innocent III., ready for 
the hideous work of killing those " who will not 
worship the beast and his image." The people well 
knew that certain death awaited them. Then began 
the solemn parting scenes and the last farewells. 
Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers 
and sisters, weeping and sobbing, clung to each 
other's, necks, encouraging each other to be faithful 
to Christ, and sustained by the blessed assurance of 
soon meeting again in heaven. Then the males re- 
paired to a large mansion, and the females to 
another, and prayerfully awaited their doom, with 
firm trust pleading the all-prevailing merits of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. The Romish priests exhorted 
the heretics to abjure their false doctrines and be 
reconciled to the Church, but were interrupted by 
the people, who cried out : " We will have none of 
your faith. We have renounced your Church, and 
your labor is in vain to move us from the truth we 



410 A Hundred and Forty in One Bonfire. 

have embraced, and from which nothing either in 
life or in death can move us." 

The women were as firm and resolute as the men, 
for they were full of hope and joy, and seemed 
eager to lay dow T n their lives for Christ. While this 
was going on, de Montfort caused a great pile of 
wood to be gathered in preparation for a large bon- 
, fire. He then went to each of the two assemblies, 
and pointing to the great pile of wood and faggots, 
he said : " Be converted to the Catholic faith, or be 
burnt on this pile." Not one of them quailed in 
view of the terrible alternative. Fire was applied 
to the great mass of conbustibles, and there was a 
mighty blaze. " Then might be seen the eager rush 
of armed men, each hoping to seize some helpless 
victim, and to propitiate God, yea, even our own 
God, by casting the form of decrepit age, or bloom- 
ing youth, or terrified childhood into the burning 
gulf. But most of them were disappointed in the 
hope, for with light step all who could do so glided 
by and cast themselves into the fire, as into a glo- 
rious chariot prepared to bear them to their bright 
and blessed home. With loud voices they com- 
mended themselves to Him for whom they counted 
it all joy to suffer this terrible martyrdom, and thus 
did a hundred and forty human beings perish from the 
sight of man in a single pile of fire, kindled from the 
materials of their own peaceful homes." 

We cannot pursue this subject further than to 
mention two or three incidents, as illustrative of the 
fiendish cruelty of the beast, in " wearing out the 



"Burnt Them All with* Infinite Joy." 411 

saints of the Most High." Simon de Montfort, after 
a brave defence on the part of the inhabitants, 
captured the place, and the murderous host en- 
tered, being led by holy priests, in their canonicals, 
singing hymns of praise to God as the work of the 
slaughter began. " Very soon/' says their own 
monkish historian, " they dragged out of the castle, 
Aimery, Lord of Montreal, and other knights, to the 
number of eighty. The noble count (Montfort) 
immediately ordered them to be instantly hanged 
upon the gallows, but as soon as Aimery, the stout- 
est among them, was hanged, the gallows fell, for, 
in their great haste, they had not fixed it well in the 
earth. The count, seeing that this would produce 
great delay, ordered the rest to be massacred, and 
the pilgrims, receiving the order with the greatest 
avidity, very soon massacred them all on the spot. 
The lady of the castle, who was sister of Aimery, 
and an execrable heretic, was, by the Count's order, 
thrown into a pit, which was then filled up with stones. 
Afterward our pilgrims collected the innumerable 
heretics which the castle contained, and burnt them 
with the utmost joy." In capturing the castle of 
Cassoro, this bigoted monk declares : " The pilgrims, 
seizing nearly sixty heretics, burnt them all with in- 
finite joy." This is the language invariably employed 
by this Romish monk, Peter de Vaux Cernay, who 
was the delighted witness of the three awful butch- 
eries which he describes with undisguised delight. 

There are apologists for Rome who insist that the 
cruelties and murders we have spoken of, and which 



412 Popery Always Cruel. 

cannot be denied, are to be attributed to the secular 

powers, and to the unenlightened ages in which 

they were perpetrated. No doubt Satan and the 

popes and bishops of Rome are delighted with such 

deluded apologists, and would have the world accept 

such contemptible excuses ; but such excuses have 

no basis in truth. We have seen that these terrible 

persecutions, tortures and murders were inflicted by 

the direction of the Pope himself, and that his 

Legate, and bishops, and priests were directly and 

actively engaged in this work. They preached up 

the crusades and declared to their people that the 

destruction of heretics was exceedingly meritorious 

in the sight of God, and would be rewarded with 

everlasting life. It was by such preaching and 

assurances that they filled with recruits the armies 

of de Montfort. And as Innocent III. taught that 

he was the direct vicegerent of Jesus Christ, and 

under the inspiration of the Almighty, it is certain 

" the times " had nothing to do with it. And all 

these cruel and horrible murders were committed in 

the name of religion, and for the honor of God ; thus 

clearly showing itself to be a system of lying, and 

fraud, and hypocrisy and blasphemy. " The beast 

had two horns, like a lamb; and he spake as a 

dragon" We see how exactly this prophecy finds 

its fulfilment in the Papacy. From all we have yet 

seen, it is most evident that the Roman Catholic 

religion is a cruel religion, and begets cruelty in its 

members. A single fact will, perhaps, be sufficient 

to prove that the Papacy is as cruel to-day as it was 



Torture of TJgo Bassi in 184,8. 413 

in the " dark ages ;" but in Protestant countries the 
beast may show his teeth, but he dare not bite. 

During the revolution in Italy, in 1848, when the 
Italian people determined to cast off the tyrannical 
political government of the Pope, Ugo Bassi, a most 
eloquent and patriotic priest, and one of the bravest, 
was chaplain to the immortal Garibaldi. Having 
been captured and cast into prison, without loss of 
time he was brought before an Austrian court-mar- 
tial. He did not attempt to make any defense— he 
avowed that he had done his duty as a man, and 
asserted that he was quite ready to die, if death was 
the penalty they attached to honor. The sentence 
of death was passed upon him instantly ; but before 
it could be carried into execution, the Cardinal 
Legate interfered in the name of the church, declar- 
ing that no priest could be put to death, and that he 
must first be handed over to the clergy to be dese- 
crated. To this the military made no objection, and 
the papal authorities proceeded to perform the dese- 
cration in the most horrible manner. The crown of 
the head, where the tonsure of the priest exists; 
the forehead, where the sign of the cross is made 
with holy oil, and the fingers and insides of the 
hands, which on performance of the mass had 
touched the Holy Wafer, being considered sacred, 
the skin was flayed from the flesh ! In this state did 
the Romish priests, whom Ugo Bassi had protected 
from popular vengeance, hand out their brother 
and former protector to the military to be executed, 
after having performed thus an act of barbarity 



414 The Brave Patriot Murdered. 

even more revolting than even the savage Indians 
would be guilty of, who, before scalping their enemy, 
have the humanity to kill him. On the morning 
of the 8th of August, Ugo Bassi was brought out of 
his cell at an early hour and was conducted to a 
field outside of the city, where his grave had already 
been dug. Looking his murderers calmly in the 
face, he fell — one bullet piercing his breast and 
another his shoulder. The few persons who at that 
earty hour became apprised of the completion of the 
tragedy, hurried to the spot to take a last look at 
their friend. Their handkerchiefs, dipped in the 
blood of their murdered fellow-patriot, says Colonel 
Forbes, will one day serve as banners to lead the 
people against the assassins. (Colonel Forbes, who 
wrote this narrative, was himself a soldier in this 
Italian war for freedom.) 

It will be remembered that the heavenly messen- 
ger who interpreted Daniel's dream said to him 
(Dan. vii : 17) : " These great beasts, which are four, 
are four ' Kings ' (or ' Kingdoms] Verse 23)." As we 
have seen, these four kingdoms were the Baby- 
lonian, the Persian, the Grecian and the Roman. 
These kingdoms are represented as beasts because of 
the cruelty with which they persecuted the true 
religion ; first the Jewish, and afterwards the Chris- 
tian religion. But the last of the four beasts was so 
hideous as not to be compared with any known 
living creature, and hence Daniel says of the fourth 
beast that it was " dreadful and terrible, and strong 
exceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth : it devoured 



More Biblical Proof. 415 

and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the 
feet of it" This " dreadful and terrible " beast 
representing the Roman empire, and then the Papacy 
and the popes of Rome, was to be more cruel and 
blood-thirsty than all the beasts; and the exact 
truth of this we have already seen, and we shall 
have still further proof of it as we proceed. In our 
verse in Rev. (xiii: 15) we are told that "as many 
as would not worship the beast should be killed" And 
we have found that the awful and wholesale murders 
that have been perpetrated by the Romish church 
were inflicted on men and women, not because they 
were perjurers, or adulterers, or murderers, or athe- 
ists, but simply because they " would not worship the 
beast " — or submit to be controlled, body, soul and 
spirit, by the Pope. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
A Chapter of Abominations. 

"And there came one of the seven angels which 
had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying 
unto me, Come hither ; I will show unto thee the 
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many 
waters : with whom the kings of the earth have 
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the 
earth have been made drunk with the wine of her 
fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit 
into the wilderness ; and I saw a woman sit upon a 
scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, 
having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman 
was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked 
with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a 
golden cup in her hand full of abominations and 
filthiness of her fornication. And upon her fore- 
head was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the 
Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abomina- 
tions of the Earth. And I saw the woman 
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the 
blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Rev. xvii : 1-6.) 

Without attempting a critical explanation of the 
details of this chapter — which our space will not 
permit, and which is unnecessary — it will be easy 
to show that the woman above spoken of is the 
Papacy. This is the conclusion at which the most 
learned, and unbiased students of the prophecies 
have arrived, and which it is almost impossible to 

416 



God's Portrait of the Papacy. 417 

avoid by those who are familiar with the history of 
the Romish Church. The interpreting " angel " 
(ver. 15) declares that, " the waters which thou 
sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and 
multitudes, and nations, and tongues," indicating 
the vast extent of the papal dominion. Even at this 
moment the Pope claims to have about two hun- 
dred million subjects, scattered over every part of 
the world. And how truly it may be said of the 
Church of Rome, that she is " the great whore ivith 
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornica- 
tion" or spiritual adultery. Papal Rome, unfaith- 
ful to God, and idolatrous and corrupt, has seduced 
the rulers of the earth, and led them into the same 
kind of unfaithfulness, idolatry, and corruption. 
All the princes and kings of Europe in the dark 
ages, and for many centuries were, and not a few of 
them are now, entirely under the influence of Papal 
Rome. This iniquitous and God dishonoring con- 
sorting with the kings of the earth, has resulted in 
corrupting the world ; for " the inhabitants of the 
earth have been made drunk with the wine of her forni- 
cation." At this very hour, kings, and govern- 
ments, and countless millions of people are in a con- 
dition of mental and moral intoxication through 
the deceitful, and hypocritical blandishments of this 
" great whore that sitteth on many waters." 

This " great whore " is also spoken of as " a woman 
sitting on a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blas- 
phemy, having seven heads and ten horns." The angel 
declares, " The seven heads are seven mountains, on 



418 The Tell- Tale Color. 

which the woman sitteth, and there are seven kings, 
etc." The seven mountains clearly indicate the 
city of Rome, built on seven hills ; and the seven 
kings indicate, or refer to, the seven forms of gov- 
ernment, which Rome had literally passed through. 
We have already shown most clearly that the 
Romish Church is a blasphemous Church, and of 
this we shall have still more abundant proof. 
"Scarlet color " has long been, and still is, the favor- 
ite color of papal Rome. Scarlet might well repre- 
sent the cruel persecuting, and blood-thirsty charac- 
teristics of the Papacy. Travellers who have visited 
Rome have been struck with the prevalence of this 
color. Rev. Albert Barnes says, " I caused this 
inquiry to be made of an intelligent gentleman who 
had passed much time in Rome — without his know- 
ing my design — what would strike a stranger on 
visiting Rome, or what would be likely particularly 
to arrest his attention as remarkable there, and he 
unhesitatingly replied, " the scarlet colorT This is 
the color of the dress of the cardinals — their hats, 
and cloaks, and stockings being always of this color. 
It is the color of the carriages of the cardinals, the 
entire body of the carriage being scarlet, and the 
trappings of the horses the same. On occasion of 
public festivals and processions, scarlet is suspended 
from the windows of the houses along which pro- 
cessions pass. The inner color of the cloak of the 
Pope is scarlet ; his carriage is scarlet ; the carpet on 
which he treads is scarlet. A large part of the 
dress of the Pope's body-guard is scarlet ; and no 



The Mother of Harlots. 419 

one can take up a picture of Rome without seeing 
that this color is predominant." 

" And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten 
kings,' 9 etc. It will be remembered that in the 
fourth beast of Daniel's vision (Dan. vii : 7) there 
were " ten horns" and the angel that interpreted 
Daniel's vision said : " The ten horns are ten king- 
doms that shall arise." It is certain then that we are 
studying the same subject we began with in Daniel, 
and that the Little Horn that came up among the 
ten horns has long ago developed into the system of 
Papacy which for a thousand years has been the 
enemy of God, and the curse of the world — " mak- 
ing war with, and wearing out the saints of the 
Most High." 

"And upon her forehead was a name written, 
Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of 
Harlots and Abominations of the Earth." The 
ancient Babylon, situated on the Euphrates, had 
long since wasted away under the curse of God, and 
for ages had been hidden from the sight of men, 
and therefore as the apostle John is speaking of the 
future, it is certain that the reference is not to that 
city. It was generally understood by the early 
Christians that by Babylon, is meant Rome; and 
this is the view entertained at present, I believe, by 
nearly all Biblical scholars. As ancient Babylon 
was proud, and haughty, and the persecutor of 
God's people, so Rome, both Pagan and Papal, has 
always exhibited these characteristics. Both in 
Revelation, and in the book of Daniel, Rome, Pagan 



420 Mother of Abominations. 

and Papal, is recognized as one power, standing in 
deadly opposition to the kingdom of Christ. Mr. 
Gibbon, the historian, says : "As long as the em- 
perors before Constantine persisted in the profession 
of idolatry, the epithet of Babylon was applied to 
the city and empire of Rome.". The fact also that 
the Roman empire was in all its glory when the 
Apostle wrote of its being cursed of God, and 
doomed to certain ruin, may have furnished a very 
good reason for speaking of Rome under another 
name. Rome is the mystical Babylon. 

How justly and truly may Papal Rome be called 
" the mother of harlots /" Not only may Rome — Papal 
Rome — be called "the great whore," and "the mother 
of harlots," in a mystical and spiritual sense, but it 
is literally true that her institutions and teach- 
ings tend to promote, and do promote, the crimes 
suggested by the epithets applied to her. No sys- 
tem of religion ever devised has been so productive 
of lewdness and licentiousness as the system of 
popery. The truth of these statements will be 
abundantly confirmed as we proceed with this 
work. Indeed, we have had abundant proof 
already. 

Not only is the Papacy called " the mother of har- 
lots" but it is added, " and abominations of the earth." 
This word is most significant and comprehensive, 
and we shall occupy some space in particularizing 
some of these " abominations" In reading the Old 
Testament we find that the Almighty was constantly 
complaining that men pretending to be priests of 



Paganized Christianity. 421 

God were continually substituting heathen cere- 
monies for true worship. We read : u Moreover, all 
the chief of the priests and the people transgressed 
very much, after all the abominations of the heathen, 
and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hal- 
lowed at Jerusalem." (2 Chron., xxxvi : 14.) This 
charge might justly be brought against the Romish 
Pope and priests of the present day. Romanism at 
the present moment is baptized heathenism, as 
we will plainly show. Mosheim, in his Ecclesias- 
tical History, declares that the Jews, as well as the 
Pagans, taunted the Christians because of the sim- 
plicity of their worship, and because they had 
neither temples, altars, victims, or priests, nor any- 
thing of that external pomp in which the vulgar 
are so apt to place the very essence of religion. It 
was to attract the Pagans to the so-called Christian 
Church that pagan rites and observances were intro- 
duced. "After the conversion of Constantine, in the 
fourth century, when Christianity was taken under 
the protection of the state, this sinful conformity to 
the practices of paganism increased to such a degree 
that the beauty and simplicity of Christian worship 
were almost entirely obscured, and by the time 
these corruptions were ripe for the establishment 
of the popedom, Christianity — the Christianity of 
the State — seemed but little else than a system of 
Christianized Paganism" 

Dean Waddington, in his History of the Church, 
says : " The copious transfusion of heathen ceremo- 
nies into Christian worship, which had taken place 



422 Pagan Use of Incense. 

before the end of the fourth century, had, to a cer- 
tain extent, paganized the outward form and aspect 
of religion ; and these ceremonies became more 
general and more numerous, and, so far as the calam- 
ities of the times would permit, more splendid in the 
age which followed. To console the (heathen) con- 
vert for the loss of his favorite festival, others of a 
different name, but similar description, were intro- 
duced ; and the simple and serious occupation of 
spiritual devotion was beginning to degenerate into 
a worship of parade and demonstration, or a mere 
scene of riotous festivity." 

In the year 1729, Rev. Conyers Middleton, of the 
English Church, visited the city of Rome for the 
purpose, as he says, of studying the remains of 
ancient and classic antiquity ; but while in Rome 
he found such an exact resemblance between the 
temples, images and ceremonies of popery and those 
of paganism that he came to the conclusion that he 
could in no way more effectually increase his famili- 
arity with the latter than by directing his attention 
to the former. After his return to his native land 
he published a book on " The Exact Conformity 
of Popery and Paganism." In this book he says : 
" The very first thing that a stranger must neces- 
sarily take notice of as soon as he enters their 
churches is the use of incense, or perfumes, in their 
religious services. The first step which he takes 
within the door will be sure to make him sensible 
of it by the offense that he will immediately receive 
from the smell, as well as the smoke, of this incense, 



Holy Water a Pagan Abomination. 423 

with which the whole church continues to be filled 
for some time after every service. A custom received 
directly from paganism" etc. And yet this pagan 
performance may be witnessed in every Romish 
church in our land. 

Holy water. " The next thing that, in the Romish 
worship, will arrest the attention is the use the 
papists make of holy water , for nobody ever goes in 
or out of a church, but is either sprinkled by a priest, 
who attends for that purpose on solemn days, or else 
serves himself with it from a vessel, usually of mar- 
ble, placed just at the door. Now this ceremony is 
so notoriously and directly transmitted to them from 
Paganism that their own writers make not the least 
scruple to own it. The Jesuit, LaCerda, in his notes, 
on a passage in Virgil, where this practice is 
mentioned, says : i Hence was derived the custom 
of the holy church, to provide purifying of holy 
water at the entrance of their churches/ We find 
the primitive fathers speaking of it as a custom 
purely heathenish, and condemning it as impious and 
detestable. Justin Martyr says, ' that it was invented 
by demons in imitation of the true baptism signified 
by the prophets, that their votaries might also have 
their pretended purifications by water; and the 
Emperor Julian, out of spite to the Christians, used 
to order their victuals in the markets to be sprinkled 
with holy water, on purpose either to starve, or force 
them to eat what by their own principles they es- 
teemed polluted. Thus we see what contrary notions 
the primitive and Romish Church have of this 



424 More Pagan Abominations. 

ceremony ; the first condemns it as superstition, 
abominable, and irreconcilable with Christianity; 
the latter adopts it as highly edifying and applicable 
to the improvement of Christian piety ; the one looks 
upon it as the contrivance of the devil to delude 
mankind ; the other as the security of mankind 
against the delusions of the devil ! ! " 

It would be both interesting and instructive to 
follow this scholarly writer as he shows that the en- 
tire system of popery is but Paganism baptized with 
the name of Christianity, but as his letter is too 
long for insertion here, suffice it to say that Dr. Mid- 
dleton shows most clearly that the burning of wax 
candles in the daytime; votive gifts ; the worship of 
images ; religious pomps and processions ; the religious 
orders of monks and nuns, etc., are all of Pagan ori- 
gin. He says : " In their very priesthood they have 
contrived to keep up as near a resemblance as they 
could to that of Pagan Rome, and the sovereign 
Pontiff, instead of deriving his succession from 
Peter, who, if he ever was at Rome, did not reside 
there in any worldly pomp and splendor, may with 
more reason and much better plea style himself the 
successor of the Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest of 
old Rome, whose authority and dignity was the 
greatest in the Republic, and who was looked upon 
as the arbiter and judge of all things, civil as well 
as sacred, human as well as divine, whose power, 
established almost with the foundation of the city, 
1 was an omen/ says Polydore Virgil, ' and sure 
presage of priestly majesty, by which Rome was 



Origin of Kissing the Pope's Toe. 425 

once again to reign as universally, as it had done 
before by the force of its arms.' 

" But of all the sovereign Pontiffs of Pagan Rome, 
it is very remarkable that Caligula (a perfect mon- 
ster of wickedness and cruelty) was the first who 
ever offered his foot to be kissed by any who ap- 
proached him, which raised a general indignation 
throughout the city, to see themselves reduced to so 
great an indignity. Seneca declaims against it as 
the last affront to liberty, and the introduction of a 
Persian slavery into the manners of Rome. Yet 
this servile act, unworthy either to be imposed or 
complied with by man, is now the standing cere- 
monial of Christian Rome, and a necessary condi- 
tion of access to the reigning popes, though derived 
from no better origin than the frantic pride of a 
brutal Pagan tyrant.'' 

Some years ago Father Gavazzi, the eloquent Ital- 
ian patriot and ex-priest of Rome, delivered lectures 
in this country to vast audiences of people, who were 
both delighted and instructed by his burning utter- 
ances, as he exposed the wickedness and tyranny of 
the papacy, and warned the people of this land 
against it as the most deadly enemy of our liberties 
and institutions. He delivered a course of lectures 
in New York City, one of which was entitled the 
Identity of Romanism and Paganism, of which we 
can quote but a few sentences. He said : " My 
brethren, do not suppose the Church of Rome, when 
she became apostate from the Church of Christ, was 
a blind and foolish one. Oh, no ! She knew very 



426 Testimony of Father Gavazzi. 

well that Paganism was profitable to the ancient 
priests, and she knew too that she could make it 
profitable to the new priesthood of Christ. I say 
that in the present popish system, Paganism is the 
most profitable aid in support of the authority and 
the pocket of the popish priest. And, therefore, the 
conclusion of this part of our subject is, that at the 
present day the popish Church is no more the 
Church of the Gospel, but is the church of heathenism. 
Thus is the Gospel of Christ — the spiritual Gospel 
of Christ — the chronic Gospel of Christ — ' transub- 
stantiated ' into the flesh and blood of the ancient 
Pagan practices. 

" The ancients had many hundreds and thousands 
of gods. According to St. Augustine they had in 
the city of God, in Rome alone, not less than twenty- 
two thousand different Gods. They have not only 
twenty-two thousand different gods, but according 
to martyrology, a hundred thousand different Gods 
in the Church of Rome. That is to say, they have 
not less than a hundred thousand saints among the 
Romans, and these saints are really in place of the 
ancient gods of Paganism." And so by numerous 
indisputable facts and arguments this eloquent Ital- 
ian patriot proves, what all intelligent students of 
popery well know, that popery is heathenism bap- 
tized with the Christian name. 

Romish baptism is an " abomination" — The Romish 
Church ensnares the new born, and even the unborn 
babe in the toils of her deception, fraud, and false- 
hoods. She teaches the unscriptural and horrible 



Romish Baptism an Abomination. 427 

doctrine that " Without baptism no one can be 
saved." The Council of Trent declared, " Whoever 
shall affirm that baptism is indifferent, that is, not 
necessary to salvation, Let Him Be Accursed," which 
means, let him be eternally damned, thus not only 
consigning to perdition countless millions of unbap- 
tized infants, but also the countless millions of adults 
who refuse to believe this monstrous and God-dis- 
honoring doctrine. I have known a priest positively 
refuse to permit a new-born babe to be placed in the 
coffin of its mother, who died in child-birth, in spite 
of the entreaties of the broken-hearted husband and 
father, and the little creature was buried by itself 
in " unconsecrated " ground. And this is the shame- 
ful practice of the Romish Church. This doctrine 
makes the Roman Catholic's God a monster of 
cruelty. No being less wicked than the devil him- 
self could send an infant to an eternal hell because 
some one omitted to sprinkle a few drops of water 
on its head. And yet this is the wicked doctrine of 
the Church of Rome. 

The efficacy attributed to baptism by the Church 
of Rome is unscriptural and blasphemous. Dr. 
Challoner, Romanist, in his " Catholic Christian In- 
structed," declares that baptism washes away origi- 
nal sin ; it remits all actual sin ; it infuses the habit 
of divine grace into the soul ; it gives a right and 
title to heaven ; it makes us children and members 
of the Church. Wh-at the Bible attributes to the 
blood of Christ and the operations of the Holy 
Spirit, the priests of Rome attribute to the efficacy 



428 "Kirwan" on Romish Baptism. 

of water. They declare and teach that there can 
be no salvation without water baptism, so that in 
spite of the mercy of God, and the blood of Christ, 
and the power of the Holy Ghost, even the little in- 
fant will be eternally damned unless baptized. This 
is blasphemy, and an insult to Almighty God, as 
well as to the intelligence of mankind. The Bible 
teaches us that it is " the blood of Jesus Christ that 
cleanses from sin/' and not a little water adminis- 
tered in baptism. 

The rite of baptism, as administered by the priests, 
is a silly, heathen performance. For brevity and 
conciseness I will quote from the noted Kirwan, 
whose " Letters to Archbishop Hughes," of New 
York, made such a stir some time ago, as well re- 
membered by some of us : " If your doctrine of bap- 
tismal regeneration is true/' says Kirwan, " what a 
singular commentary we have of it in the lives of 
your people ! What singular manifestations of the 
habits of divine grace which your baptism infuses 
into the soul, you see daily among your people ! I 
only wonder that the facts in the case have not long 
ago exploded your doctrine, and led you back to 
the simplicity of the sacrament as taught in the 
Bible. The apostles administered baptism to those 
who confessed faith in Jesus Christ, and through 
this sacrament we obtain a name and a place in the 
visible Church. This all men can understand, but 
how you, or any other mortal man, by the applica- 
tion of water in any or all ways, can wash away the 
original and actual sins of the sinner, infuse into 



Satan Exorcised by Holy Salt and Holy Spittle. 429 

his soul the habits of grace,, and give him a title to 
heaven, I cannot understand. If your baptism could 
only do this it would wonderfully mend the habits 
of many of your people, and save some of the crim- 
inal courts of New York a world of trouble. 

a And the power you claim for it is no more un- 
meaning than the ceremonies you connect with it. 
This sacrament, ordinarily, must be administered in 
churches with fonts, whose water must be blessed 
1 on the vigils of Easter and Whitsunday.' There 
must be godfathers and godmothers. The priest 
blows in the face of the subject of baptism thrice, 
to drive Satan out of him ! Then blessed salt is put 
in his mouth ! Then exorcism is performed to drive 
the devil out of him ! (to make sure.) This is all 
done in the porch of the Church. Then he is 
brought into the Church, where prayers are said. 
Then the priest puts his spittle on the ears and nose. 
(Think of this, in the case of a lady !) Then he is 
anointed with holy oil on the top of his head. Then 
a lighted candle is put in his hand ! Then the cere- 
mony is ended, and the person is dismissed, his sins 
all washed away, the habits of grace infused into his 
soul, and his title to heaven in his pocket ! Now, 
sir, excite my wits as I may, I cannot understand 
all this. It is addressed to my ignorance." Kirwan 
had been educated as a Romanist. 

It seems as if intelligent people must be compelled 
to ask what possible connection there can be between 
such a performance and the salvation of a soul. 
How is it possible that holy water, and holy salt, 



430 Another Abomination is the Mass. 

and the holy breath, and holy spittle of a priest can 
have any part in promoting the spiritual welfare of 
any human soul ? But then Rome is the " mother 
of abominations" and this is one of them. 

As we have spoken of the Mass in a previous 
chapter, (chapter twelve) we will simply introduce 
it here as another of the " abominations " of Rome, 
and will quote two or three brief paragraphs from 
our intelligent and witty " Kirwan." " The whole 
ceremony of your Mass is yet more unmean- 
ing to me. Often as I have witnessed it I never 
gleaned one intelligent idea from it, nor does one 
out of one million of your people. I have just read 
through the labored explanation of it by Bishop 
England, and it is truly painful to see so noble a 
mind expending its powers in the vain attempt to 
give meaning to every thread of such a gossamer 
web ; to give sense and significance to what is so 
utterly nonsensical. ' In the mass/ says Dr. English, 
' Christ is the victim, he is produced by the conse- 
cration, which by the power of God and the institu- 
tion of the Redeemer, and the act of the priest, place 
the body and blood of Christ, under the appearance 
of bread and wine, upon the altar ; then the priest 
makes an oblation of this victim to the Eternal 
Father on behalf of the people, and the victim 
undergoes a destructive change, showing forth the 
death of the Redeemer, and making commemora- 
tion thereof by the exhibition of the apparent sepa- 
ration of the body from the blood, the former being 
under the appearance of bread, and the latter 



The Mass Blasphemous Nonsense. 431 

under the appearance of wine, and by the consump- 
tion of both by the priest.' This is on the whole," 
says Kirwan, " the clearest account of the mass that I 
have ever seen from the pen of a priest, and yet 
what mind can understand it? Sir, do you un- 
derstand it? Christ produced from some bread 
and wine by a priest ; this produced Christ is laid 
upon the altar by the priest ; an oblation of this 
produced Christ is made to the Eternal Father by 
the priest ; the produced Christ undergoes a destruc- 
tive change in the act of oblation; this oblation 
of the produced Christ is offered for the people ; 
and then this produced, offered Christ, — and after 
he has undergone a destructive change — is eaten 
by the priest ! Sir, all this is as unmeaning to 
me as the leaves which the fabled Sybil scattered 
on the winds. And this unmeaning Mass, — a 
greater mass of absurdity than heathen ingenuity 
or depravity ever invented — is the chief source of 
edification to nine-tenths of the heathen world ! If 
it were merely unmeaning, without being blasphe- 
mous and wicked, I could extend to it some tolera- 
tion. 

" And the absurdity of the whole thing is in- 
creased to intensity by the fact that the pantomime 
is performed in Latin ! Pray, Sir, how many of your 
worshippers at St. Patrick's understand English, not 
to say Latin ? Why use a language now no longer 
spoken by any nation of people, which is now simply 
a medium of intercourse among scholars? The 
answer given to this question by Challoner is one of 



432 Why the Mass in Latin ? 

the most cool insults that I have ever known offered 
to the common sense of the world. Here it is: 1. 
Because it is her ancient language . . . and the 
Church, which hates novelty, desires to celebrate 
her liturgy in the same language. 2. For a greater 
uniformity in public worship, that a papist, wher- 
ever he wanders, may witness the ceremonies of the 
mass in the same language. 3. To avoid the changes 
to which all vulgar languages are exposed. He also 
tells us that it is unnecessary to understand what we 
are saying if our hearts are only sincere ! Sir, I see 
not how men who offer, or receive such statements 
as reasons, can have the faculty of understanding a 
reason. Because the ritual of the mass was first 
formed in Latin ; because mass was first said in 
Latin at Rome, the hatred of your church to novelty 
forbids her to change the language of her ritual, 
when there is not a congregation on earth that can 
understand it ! And is it not necessary to under- 
stand the language in which we address ourselves 
to God, if we only intend to worship him ! And such 
is the excuse you make for a man who may be wor- 
shipping a false relic for a true one. If he only 
means to honor the true relic, it makes no differ- 
ence ! If he mistakes the thigh of Barabbas for that 
of Barnabas ; or the finger of Pilate for that of Peter ; 
or the hair of Jezebel for that of Mary ; or the head 
of Balaam's ass for that of Paul, it is all the same, if 
he only means to worship the true relic. And I 
suppose the difference, sir, is very little. These 
things may be very clear to you, and to your priests 



Indulgences an Abomination. 433 

and people, but to me they are utterly without 
meaning, save a meaning that insults my common 
sense." . 

Another of the " abominations " of Rome is to be 
found in her system of indulgences. The Church of 
Rome teaches that she has a treasury, of which the 
Pope has the key, and this treasury contains the 
superfluous merits of Jesus Christ, and of the saints 
and martyrs. From these merits, of which Christ 
and certain saints had more than they needed, the 
Pope can take, and by an indulgence impart to such 
as have not merit enough to save them. Pope Ur- 
ban II., the originator of the crusades, in the eleventh 
century, appears to have been the first who made 
any extensive use of these indulgences as a reward 
for those who engaged in the meritorious enterprise 
of conquering the Holy land, though it is admitted 
by Cardinal Baronius, that Gregory VII. had, some 
few years earlier, granted the full remission of all 
their sins to those who would fight against his great 
enemy, Henry IV. We have already had occasion 
to notice that indulgences, the forgiveness of sins, 
and the gift of eternal life, were offered to all who 
would engage in the murder of heretics. 

We learn from Mosheim, the historian, that in the 
twelfth century the Roman pontiffs thought proper 
to limit the power of the bishops, who had been 
driving a very lucrative trade in the sale of indul- 
gences, and assumed this lucrative traffic to them- 
selves. St. Thomas Aquinas, one of Rome's great 
theologians, taught that there actually existed an 



434 Shameful Traffic in Indulgences. 

immense treasure of merit, composed of the pious 
deeds and virtuous actions of the saints, and which 
was beyond what was necessary for their own salva- 
tion, and which were therefore applicable to the 
salvation of others ; that the guardian and dispenser 
of this precious treasure was the Pope, and that he 
had the right to assign to such as he thought proper 
so much of this superabundant merit as might be 
necessary in certain cases. 

It was the bold and blasphemous manner in which 
indulgences were offered for sale by a certain monk 
that was the direct cause of the Reformation in the 
sixteenth century. As we have a most interesting 
account of this transaction in D'Aubigne's " History 
of the Reformation," we will give a few paragraphs 
from that reliable work. A great agitation reigned 
at that time among the people of Germany. The 
Church had opened a vast market on the earth. 
Judging from the crowd of buyers, and the noise 
and jests of the dealers, we might call it a fair, but 
a fair held by monks. The merchandise they ex- 
tolled, offering it at a reduced price, was, said they, 
the salvation of souls ! The dealers passed through 
the country in a gay carriage, escorted by three 
horsemen, in great state, and spending freely. One 
might have thought it some dignitary on a royal 
progress, with his attendants and officers, and not a 
common dealer, or a begging monk. When the 
procession approached a town a messenger was sent 
to the magistrate : "The grace of God, and of the Holy 
Father is at your gates," said the envoy. Instantly 



A Blasphemous Pageant. 435 

everything was in motion in the place. The clergy, 
the priests, the nuns, the council, the schoolmasters, 
the trades, with their flags, men and women, young 
and old, went forth to meet the merchants, with 
lighted tapers in their hands, advancing to the 
sound of music, and all the bells of the place ring- 
ing, " so that/' says an historian, " they could not 
have given a grander welcome to God himself." 
Salutations being exchanged, the whole procession 
moved towards the Church. The pontiff's bull of 
grace was borne in front, on a velvet cushion, or 
cloth of gold. The chief vendor of indulgences fol- 
lowed, supporting a large, red, wooden cross, and 
the whole procession moved in this manner, amidst 
singing, prayers, and the smoke of incense. A sound 
of organs, and a concert of instruments received the 
monkish dealer and his attendants into the Church. 
The cross he bore with him was erected in front of 
the altar, on it was hung the pope's arms, and as 
long as it remained there the clergy of the place, 
the penitentiaries, and the sub-commissioners, with 
white wands in their hands, came every day, after 
vespers or before the salutation, to do it homage. 
This great bustle excited a lively sensation in the 
quiet towns of Germany. 

One person in particular drew the attention of the 
spectators in these sales. It was he who bore the 
great red cross, and had the most prominent part 
assigned to him. He was clothed in the habit of the 
Dominicans, and his port was lofty. His voice was 
sonorous, and he seemed yet in the prime of his 



436 The Holy Mountebank. 

strength, though he was past his sixty-third year. 
This man, who was the son of a goldsmith, of Leipsic, 
named Diez, bore the name of John Diezel, or Tet- 
sel. He had studied in his native town, and taken 
his bachelor's degree in 1487, and entered two years 
later into the Order of the Dominicans. Numerous 
honors had been accumulated "on him. Bachelor of 
Theology, Prior of the Dominicans, Apostolical Com- 
missioner, Inquisitor ; he had ever since the year 
1502, filled the office of an agent for the sale of in- 
dulgences. The experience he had acquired as a 
subordinate functionary had very early raised him 
to the position of chief commissioner. He had an 
allowance of eighty florins per month, all his ex- 
penses defrayed, and he was allowed a carriage and 
three horses, but we may readily imagine that his 
indirect emoluments far exceeded his allowance. 
In 1507, he gained in two days at Freyburgh two 
thousand florins. If his occupation resembled that 
of a mountebank, he had also the morals of one. 
Convicted at Inspruck of adultery and abominable 
profligacy, he was near paying the forfeit of his life. 
The Emperor Maximilian had ordered that he 
should be put in a sack and thrown into the river. 
The Elector Frederick, of Saxony, interceded for him 
and obtained his pardon. But the lesson he had re- 
ceived failed to teach him more decency. He carried 
about with him two of his children. To the theology 
of a monk, and the zeal and spirit of an inquisitor, 
he united the greatest effrontery. What helped him 
most in his office was the facility he displayed in 



John Tetsel the Devil's Auctioneer. 437 

the invention of strange stories, with which the taste 
of the common people is generally pleased. No 
means came amiss to him to fill his coffers. Lifting 
up his voice, and giving loose to a coarse volubility, 
he offered his indulgences to all comers, and ex- 
celled any salesman at a fair in recommending his 
wares. 

As soon as the cross was elevated, with the pope's 
arms suspended upon it, Tetsel ascended the pulpit, 
and with a bold tone began in the presence of the 
crowd, whom the ceremony had drawn to the sacred 
spot, to exalt.the efficacy of indulgences. The people 
listened, and wondered at the admirable virtues 
ascribed to them. A Jesuit historian says, himself, 
in speaking of the Dominican friars whom Tetsel 
had associated with himself: " Some of these preach- 
ers did not fail, as usual, to distort their subject and 
so to exaggerate the value of indulgences as to lead 
the people to believe that as soon as they gave their 
money, they were certain of salvation, and of the 
deliverance of souls from purgatory." " Indulgences," 
says Tetsel, " are the most precious and sublime of 
God's gifts. This cross (pointing to the red cross) 
has as much efficacy as the cross of Jesus Christ. 
Draw near, and I will give you letters, duly sealed, 
by which even the sins you desire to commit shall 
be all forgiven you. 

" I would not exchange my privileges for those of 
St. Paul in heaven, for I have saved more souls 
with my indulgences than he with his sermons. 

" There is no sin so great that the indulgence can- 



438 Salvation Offered for Money. 

not remit it, and if any one should ravish the Holy 
Virgin, Mother of God, (which is doubtless impos- 
sible) let him only pay largely and it shall be for- 
given him. 

u Even repentance is not indispensible. 

" But more than this, indulgences save not the 
living alone, they also save the dead. 

" Ye priests, ye nobles, ye tradesmen, ye wives, ye 
maidens, and ye young men, hearken to your de- 
parted parents and friends who cry to you from the 
bottomless abyss : ' We are enduring horrible tor- 
ment. A small alms would deliver us, you can give 
it and you will not.' 

" The very moment," cried Tetsel, " that the money 
clinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul es- 
capes from purgatory, and flies free to heaven. 

" 0, senseless people, and almost like beasts, who 
do not comprehend the grace so richly afforded ! 
This day heaven is on all sides open. Do you now 
refuse to enter ? When then do you intend to come 
in ? This day you may redeem many souls. Dull, 
and heedless man, with ten groschen you can de- 
liver your father from purgatory, but you are so 
ungrateful that you will not rescue him. In the day 
of judgment my conscience will be clear, but you 
will be punished the more severely for neglecting so 
great a salvation. I protest that although you should 
have only one coat, you ought to strip it off and sell 
it, to purchase this grace. Our Lord God no longer 
deals with us as God. He has given all power to 
the Pope. Bring your money ! Bring money ! Bring 



Making Merchandize of Souls. 439 

money ! " Luther said, " He uttered this cry with 
such a dreadful bellowing that one might have 
thought that some wild bull was rushing among the 
people, a goring them with his horns ! " For par- 
ticular sins Tetsel had a private scale. Polygamy 
cost six ducats ; sacrilege and perjury, nine ducats; 
murder, eight ; witchcraft, two. 

Samson, who carried on in Switzerland the same 
traffic as Tetsel in Germany, had rather a different 
scale. He charged for infanticide, four livres tour- 
nois ; for a parricide or fratricide, one ducat. 

It would be interesting to pursue this subject fur- 
ther, but space will not permit. In England and 
the United States, the priests of Rome seek to cast 
dust in the eyes of Protestants by trying to explain 
away the more repulsive aspects of the system of 
indulgences, while compelled to acknowledge that 
the system still exists. As God alone can remit 
either the guilt or penalty of sin, the Pope, in grant- 
ing indulgences, stands forth, branded by Almighty 
God as the great blasphemer, and Antichrist. 

Here is still the little horn " speaking great words 
against the Most HighP 



CHAPTER XX. 
Purgatory and The Confessional. 

Purgatory is another offspring of this " Mother of 
abominations." The Holy Scriptures know nothing 
whatever of purgatory. It most plainly teaches that 
the human soul in leaving the body departs either 
to heaven or hell. There is no intermediate state. 
Jesus Christ said to the dying thief, who sought his 
help : " This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise " 
— Heaven. There was no purgatory even for this 
man who had spent all his life in wickedness. Being 
fully forgiven, he was a child of God, and fit for 
eternal glory. Our Saviour said : " The rich man 
died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in tor- 
ments," with no hope of deliverance even suggested 
to him. "And it came to pass," said Jesus, " that 
the beggar died, and angels carried him to Abra- 
ham's bosom." And many other scriptures teach 
the same truth. But the very fallible Romish Church 
has invented a purgatory for the replenishing of her 
coffers, and which the popes have found exceedingly 
profitable, for it has brought countless millions of 
gold to the treasury of the Church. In the Roman 
Catholic " Mission Book," which is in general use 
among Romanists, (page 256, etc.) we have these 
questions and answers : — 

" Q. After this particular judgment, what will 
happen ? 

440 



What is Purgatory ? 441 

"A. The soul will go either to Purgatory, or to 
Paradise, or to Hell. 

" Q. What is Purgatory ? 

"A. Purgatory is a place where some souls suffer 
for a while on account of those sins which they have 
not expiated during this life. 

u Q. What souls are they which go to Purgatory? 

"A. The souls of those who die in the grace of God, 
but are nevertheless still soiled by venial sins, or 
who have not done, during their life, sufficient pen- 
ance for their sins. 

" Q. How may these poor souls in Purgatory be 
aided by us ? 

"A. They may be aided : 1. Bypraj^er. 2. By the 
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 3. By other good works 
•done for their sake. 4. By indulgences. 

" Q. What is Hell ? 

"A. Hell is a place of eternal torment, where the 
damned are punished forever. Those who die in 
mortal sin go there. 

"Q. What is Heaven? 

"A. Heaven is the blessed abode of the saints, 
where the faithful servants of God are rewarded, and 
enjoy his presence forever. Those go to Heaven who 
die in the grace of God" 

In these few questions and answers the most un- 
scriptural and delusive doctrines are taught to the 
young Romanist. It is said that those go to Purga- 
tory " who have not expiated their sins during this 
life." The word of God teaches that Jesus Christ 
alone can " expiate" or make satisfaction or atone- 
ment for man's sin. 



442 An Insult to the Atoning Christ. 

When the priests teach, as they do, that a man 
can be suffering in the flames of purgatory, or in 
any other way expiate, or atone for his own sins, they 
insult the Son of God, by denying the sufficiency of 
his atonement and cleansing efficacy of his blood, 
The purifying flames of purgatory are more effica- 
cious in fitting souls for heaven than the cleansing 
blood of Christ. Such is the teaching of Rome. But 
in this brief catechism it is said that " those go 
to purgatory who die in the grace of God" And on 
the same page it is said : " Those go to Heaven who 
die in the grace of God" Here, then, we have the 
unscriptural and shameful doctrine that many of 
God's own redeemed and regenerated people are at 
death plunged into the awful fires of purgatory to 
" expiate " their " venial " or lesser sins, while their ■ 
" mortal sins" or far more heinous iniquities, have 
been forgiven ! And this distinction between mortal 
and venial sins is another of the vile inventions of 
this " Mother of abominations." 

In the " Garden of the Soul," a book in common 
use among Romanists, and which, like the " Mission 
Book," was published with the approval of Arch- 
bishop Hughes, of New York, we find that the souls 
in purgatory are spoken of, again and again, as " the 
faithful departed" On page 272, etc., is " The Litany 
for the Dead," in which purgatory is represented as 
" The shades of death" " The bonds of sin" " The pains 
of purgatory," " That dreadful prison" " Torments 
incomparably greater than the sharpest pains of this 
life" " Receptacles of sorrow" etc. In this " Litany for 



Sins Burnt Out; Not Washed Out 443 

the Dead," prayers are offered again and again for 
" the souls of the faithful departed" Here the Almighty 
is blasphemously accused of sending to a place of 
" torments/' Christians who have been "faithful, and 
who died in the grace of God /" 

It is impossible to say here all we would like to 
say on this infamous teaching of "the only true 
church/' and we will introduce a few paragraphs 
from our brilliant and witty friend " Kirwan," who, 
it must be remembered, was educated as a Roman 
Catholic. In one of his " Letters to Archbishop 
Hughes/' he says : " The doctrine of purgatory is 
one of the peculiar doctrines of your Church. You 
teach that nearly all Christians when they die are 
neither so perfectly pure and clean as to exempt 
them from the least stain of sin ; nor yet so happy 
as to die under the guilt of unrepented sin. It is 
for these middling Christians that you make a pur- 
gatory, where they remain until they make full 
satisfaction for sin, and then they go to heaven. 
And the profession of faith of Pius IV. tells us l that 
the souls therein detained are helped by the suf- 
frages of the faithful ; that is, by the prayers and the 
alms offered for them, and principally by the holy 
sacrifice of the mass.' And the doctrine of your 
Church is so expounded upon this matter, that but 
few, if any, die, however good, without needing pur- 
gatorial purification, and that few are so bad but 
that they may there be fitted for heaven. This you 
will admit is a fair statement. The more you get 
into purgatory, the more you will receive of the 
6 suffrages of the faithful/ that is, of their money. 



444 Purgatory Better than a Gold Mine. 

" I have already told you my estimate of this doc- 
trine. It is that by which your Church traffics in 
the souls of men, and an amazingly profitable traffic 
it makes of it. It has placed in your possession 
riches far exceeding in value the mines of Peru. 
And because of the value of this doctrine you seek 
in all possible ways to sustain it. With me the 
authority of your popes and councils is not worth a 
penny. I would rather have one text of scripture 
bearing upon the point, than the teachings of as 
many such as you could string between here and 
Jupiter. . . . Popery builds up a place that belongs 
neither to this world nor the world to come, and 
fills it with fire, and calls it purgatory ! Like Ma- 
homet's coffin, it floats somewhere between heaven 
and hell. Into this world of fire you drive the souls 
of men as they leave the body, and let them out 
only on the reception of ' the suffrages of the faith- 
ful/ that is, their money ! Now, sir, what do you 
say to all this ? Let any intelligent man read chap- 
ter xiv. of Challoner's ' Catholic Christian/ (Chal- 
loner was a Romanist) and he will rise from it with 
amazement that God could ever leave men to the 
folly of so perverting scripture, or that even the 
devil could permit them so absurdly to misapply it. 
Permit me to quote an instance by way of applica- 
tion. We are taught in Matt. 12 : 36, that we must 
give account for every idle word in the day of judg- 
ment. Now how does this text prove a purgatory ? 
In this wise : ' No one can think that God will con- 
demn a man to hell for every idle word ; therefore, 



Absurd Defense of Purgatory. 445 

there must be a purgatory to punish those guilty 
of these little transgressions.' If you or any mortal 
man think I am joking, let him turn to the chap- 
ter. Let me quote the answer in full to the question, 
'Are not souls in purgatory capable of relief in that 
state ? Yes, they are, but not for anything they can 
do for themselves, but from the prayers, alms, and 
other suffrages offered to God for them by the faithful 
upon earth, which God in his mercy is pleased to 
accept, by reason of that communion we have with 
them, by being fellow-members of the same body of 
the Church, under the same head, which is Jesus 
Christ/ Now, sir, if in this answer you substitute 
the word 'priest' for 'God/ then we come to the 
facts in the case. The ' alms/ and the other ' suf- 
frages of the faithful/ are pocketed by the priest. 
And purgatory was invented for the special purpose 
of securing these alms, and other ' suffrages of the 
faithful/ to popes, prelates, and priests. 

" Now, sir, let me ask you a few questions : What 
has the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, 
to do with the venial sins of those middling Chris- 
tians who die, not good enough to go to heaven, nor 
bad enough to go to hell ? What has the blood of 
Christ, his atonement, his finished work, at all to do, 
on your plan, with the saving of a sinner ? If my 
child should die and go to Purgatory, would a thou- 
sand dollars given to you at once have the same 
effect as a hundred dollars a year for ten years? 
How can you tell when enough is given to get the 
soul out ; or has your purse no bottom ? As souls 



446 Puzzling Questions for the Priests. 

are spirits without bodies, how can you tell one soul 
from another as they issue from the gates of purga- 
tory ? In the prayer ' Hail Mary/ we are taught 
to offer the following petition : i Holy Mary, Mother 
of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of 
our death.' Why not solicit her to pray for us after 
our death, to get us out of purgatory ? Is it because 
you are afraid the good woman would get us out 
before the priests had gotten enough of the ' alms 
and suffrages of the faithful V 

" My dear sir, the absurdities connected with your 
doctrine of purgatory are sickening. It is based on 
the love of money. The Bishop of Air candidly 
confesses that it is not revealed in the Scriptures. 
It came into the church in the seventh century ; it 
was affirmed in the twelfth ; it was stereotyped at 
Trent, and fearful anathemas are hurled at all who 
deny it. It puts away the work of Jesus Christ, and 
sends the sinner, riot to 'the blood of sprinkling,' 
but to the fires of purgatory, in order to secure a 
meetness for heaven. And why this purgatory — 
this caricature of the religion of God ? Simply to 
put the ' alms ' and ' suffrages of the faithful ' in 
the pockets of your priests ! What an outrage on 
the common sense of the world to have men dressed 
up in canonicals, teaching things as true, of which 
the beast that Balaam rode might well be ashamed ? 

" I entreat you, my dear sir, to review this doctrine 
of your church. You, surely, must see its absurdity. 
Neither in the word of God, nor in the common 
sense of man, is there the shadow of an argument to 



Cruelty and Blasphemy of Purgatory. 447 

sustain it. Nor is there a class of men on the face 
of the earth who deserve a purgatory, from which 
1 the alms and suffrages of the faithful ' would 
never release them, as do those who preach up a 
purgatory, and its fearful torments, for the sake of 
filthy lucre. But as Father O'Leary said to Can- 
ning, ' I am afraid many of them will go farther 
and fare worse.' I wish you not to be one of the 
dumb herd who hold the truth in unrighteousness, 
and believe a lie that they may be damned." 

There can be no doubt that the popish system of 
masses for the dead, under pretence of getting them out 
of Purgatory, is the most extensive, the most cruel, and 
the vilest system of robbery ever devised by man. It 
has existed for centuries, and to-day extends over 
the earth. It not only plunders the possessions of 
the very poor, as well as the rich ; but with the in- 
genuity of fiends it lacerates the inmost souls of 
those already crushed with the sorrows of bereave- 
ment; and it thrusts the sharp dagger into the 
already bleeding heart of the bereaved husband, or 
wife, by telling them that the beloved companion is 
writhing in unspeakable agony in the scorching 
flames of Purgatory. And this tremendous wicked- 
ness is perpetrated on people of either sex, and of 
every condition, and the men who do this pretend to 
be the priests of the Most High God, and acting by 
the authority and for the honor of our Holy and 
Gentle Redeemer — even him who came into our 
world to bind up the broken-hearted ; to wipe away 
the widow's tears, and to hush the orphan's cry ! 
Oh, the cruelty of it ! Oh, the blasphemy of it ! 



448 Masses for the Dead. 

The Romish priest will take the last dollar from the 
weeping widow and her hungry babes. Father 
Chiniquy, that venerable and noble ex-priest, so 
beloved throughout this country and Canada, tells 
us how his poor widowed mother was robbed of her 
cow by her holy priest, in payment for masses. We 
can quote but few of his words, although we would 
like to tell the whole story as told by him. 

In his book entitled " Fifty Years in the Church 
of Rome/' he says : " Only a few days had elapsed 
after the death of my father, when I saw Mr. Curtois, 
the parish priest, coming to our house, (he who had 
tried to take away our Bible from us). He had the 
reputation of being rich, and as we were poor and 
unhappy since my father's death, my first thought 
was that he had come to comfort and help us. I 
could see that my mother had the same hopes. She 
welcomed him as an agent from heaven. The last 
gleam of hope is so sweet to one who is unhappy ! 
From his first words, however, I could see that my 
hopes were not to be realized. He tried to be sym- 
pathetic, and even said something about the confi- 
dence we should have in God, especially in times of 
trial ; but his words were cold and dry. Turning to 
me, he said : 

" ' Do you continue to read the Bible, my little 
boy?' 

" ' Yes, sir,' I said, with a voice trembling with 
anxiety, for I feared he would make another effort 
to take away that treasure, and I no longer had a 
father to defend it. 

" Then addressing my mother, he said : 



A Specimen Priest 449 

" ' Madam, I told you it was not right for you or 
your child to read that book.' 

" My mother cast down her eyes, and answered 
only by the tears that ran down her cheeks. 

u That question was followed by a long silence ; 
and the priest then continued : ' Madam, there is 
something due for the prayers that have been sung, 
and the services which you requested to be offered 
for the repose of your husband's soul. I will be 
very much obliged if you will pay me that little 
debt.' 

" ' Mr. Curtois/ my mother said, ' my husband left 
me nothing but debts. I have only the work of my 
own hands to procure me a living for my three 
children, the eldest of whom is before you. For 
these little orphan's sake, if not for mine, do not 
take from us the little that is left/ 

" ' But, madam, you do not reflect. Your husband 
died suddenly and without any preparation ; he is 
therefore in the flames of purgatory. If you want him 
to be delivered you must necessarily unite your per- 
sonal sacrifices to the prayers of the Church and the 
masses which we offer/ 

" ' As I said, my husband has left me absolutely 
without means, and it is impossible for me to give 
you any money/ replied my mother. 

" l But, madam, the masses offered for the rest of 
your husband's soul must be paid/ answered the 
priest. 

" My mother covered her face with her handker- 
chief and wept. After a long silence, my mother 
raised her eyes, reddened with tears, and said : 



450 Priest Stole the Widow's Cow. 

" l Sir, you see that cow in the meadow, not far 
from our house? Her milk, and the butter made 
from it form the principal part of my children's 
food. I hope you will not take her away from us. 
If, however, such a sacrifice must be made to deliver 
my poor husband's soul from purgatory, take her as 
payment for the masses to be offered to extinguish 
those devouring flames.' 

" The priest instantly arose, saying, ' Very well, 
madam,' and went out. Our eyes anxiously fol- 
lowed him ; but instead of walking towards the little 
gate which was in front of the house, he directed 
his steps towards the meadow, and drove the cow 
before him in the direction of his home. At that 
sight I screamed with despair : l 0, my mother ! he 
is taking our cow away ! What will become of us ? ' 

" Lord Nairn had given us that splendid cow when 
it was three months old. I fed her with my own 
hands, and I loved her as a child always loves an 
animal which he has brought up himself. She 
seemed to understand and love me also. My mother 
also cried out with grief as she saw the priest taking 
away the only means which heaven had left her to 
feed her children. 

" Throwing myself into her arms I asked her, 
1 Why have you given away our cow ? What will 
become of us? We shall surely die of hunger.' 
c Dear child,' she answered, ' I did not think the 
priest would be so cruel as to take away the last 
resource which God had left us.' She was pale and 
trembling. Cold sweat was flowing on her face, and 



Masses for the Dead are Robbery. 451 

she fell on the floor. I thought she was going to 
die. I ran for cold water, which I gave her, saying : 
' 0, dear mother, do not leave me alone upon 
earth ! ' After drinking a few drops, she felt better, 
and taking my hand, she put it to her trembling 
lips ; then drawing me near her, and pressing me to 
her bosom, she said : ' Dear child, if ever you be- 
come a priest, I beg of you never to be so hard-hearted 
towards poor widows as are the priests of to-day.' While 
she said these words I felt her burning tears falling 
upon my cheek. 

" The memory of those tears has never left me. I 
felt them constantly during the twenty -five years I 
spent in preaching the inconceivable superstitions 
of Rome." 

This excellent and most respected Father Chin- 
iquy, now a true minister of Christ, also tells* us 
of another instance of priestly infamy quite as ap- 
palling as the one here recited. He says that as he 
was walking the road, in company with another 
priest, they " met a poor man who looked more like 
one coming out of the grave, than a living man ; he 
was covered with rags, and his pale and trembling 
lips indicated that he was reduced to the last degree 
of human misery. Taking off his hat, he said to 
Rev. Mr. Primeau, with a trembling voice, ' You 
know, Mr. le Cure, that my poor wife died, and was 
buried ten days ago, but I was too poor to have a 
funeral service sung the day she was buried, and I 
fear she is in purgatory, for almost every night I see 
her in my dreams, wrapped up in burning flames. 



452 You Must Pay, or She Must Burn. 

She cries to me for help, and asks me to have a 
high mass sung for the rest of her soul. I come to 
ask you to be so kind as to sing that high mass for 
her.' 

" 'Of course/ answered the curate, ' your wife is in 
the flames of purgatory, and suffers there the most 
unspeakable tortures, which can be relieved only 
by the offering of the holy sacrifice of the mass. 
Give me five dollars and I will sing that mass 
to-morrow morning.' The poor man declared his 
utter inability to pay, and the priest replied : ' If 
you cannot pay, you cannot have any mass sung. 
You know it is the rule.' The poor man again de- 
clared, ' in a most touching way,' his great poverty 
and utter inability to pay, and said : ' I cannot 
leave my poor wife in the flames of purgatory ; if 
you cannot sing a high mass, will you please to say 
five low masses to rescue her soul from those burn- 
ing flames ? ' 

" The priest turned toward him and said : l Yes, I 
can say five masses to take the soul of your wife out 
of purgatory ; but give me five shillings, for you 
know the price of a low r mass is one shilling.' The 
poor man answered : ' I can no more give one 
dollar than I can five. I have not a cent, and my 
three poor little children are as naked and starving 
as myself.' 

" ' Well ! well I ' answered the curate, ' when I 
passed your house this morning I saw two beautiful 
sucking pigs. Give me one of them, and I will say 
your five low masses.' " 



The Priest and the Sucking Pig. 453 

Father Chiniquy says that a day or two after this 
incident he was invited to take dinner with this 
priest in company with several other priests, and as 
he sat at table : " The first dish was a sucking pig, 
roasted with an art and a perfection that I had 
never seen ; it looked like a piece of pure gold, and 
its smell would have brought water to the lips of 
the most penitent anchorite." Chiniquy says he 
was very hungry, and very fond of roast pig, and 
so — " I could not conceal that it was with real pleas- 
ure I saw the curate cutting a beautiful piece from 
the shoulder and offering it to me. I was too hun- 
gry to be over-patient. I was carrying to my mouth 
the tempting and succulent mouthful, when, sud- 
denly, the remembrance of the poor man's sucking 
pig came to my mind. I laid the piece on my plate 
with painful anxiety, looked at the curate, and 
said : 6 Will you allow me to put to you a question 
about this dish ? ' Having been answered in the 
affirmative, Mr. Chiniquy said : 6 Is this the suck- 
ing pig of the poor man of yesterday?' With a 
convulsive fit of laughter, he replied: i Yes; it is, 
just it. If we cannot take away the soul of the poor 
woman out of the flames of purgatory, we will, at 
all events, eat a fine sucking pig.' 

" The other thirteen priests filled the room with 
laughter, to show their appreciation of their host's 
wit. 

" However, their laughter was not of long dura- 
tion. With a feeling of shame and uncontrollable 
indignation, I pushed away my plate with such 



454 The Interrupted Feast. 

force, that it crossed the table, and nearly fell on 
the floor, saying, with a sentiment of disgust which 
no pen can describe : ' I would rather starve to 
death than eat of that execrable food ; I see in it 
the tears of the poor man ; I see the blood of his 
starving children ; it is the price of a soul. No ! no ! 
gentlemen, do not touch it. You know, Mr. Curate, 
how 30,000 priests and monks were slaughtered in 
France in the bloody days of 1792. It was for such 
iniquities as this that God Almighty visited the 
Church in France. The same future awaits us here 
in Canada, the very day that people shall awaken 
from their slumbers and see that, instead of being 
ministers of Christ, we are vile traders of souls, 
under the mask of religion.' " 

These last words of Mr. Chiniquy most fitly 
and truthfully characterize the Romish priesthood 
throughout the world ; they are " vile traders of souls, 
under the mask of religion" 

It is greatly to the discredit and dishonor of this 
great and intelligent nation that these " vile tra- 
ders of souls " are permitted to commit such bare- 
faced robberies " under the mask of religion." 
Millions of christian and patriotic hearts will re- 
joice when to accept payment for masses offered for 
the dead shall be declared to be felony, and the 
priestly felons be given long terms in state prison. 
May God hasten the day ! 

Auricular Confession is another of the " abomi- 
nations " mothered by the Church of Rome. We 
regret that our space demands that we say much 



Auricular Confession. 455 

less on this subject than its importance demands. 
The so-called sacrament of auricular confession was 
established by the fourth Lateran Council in 1215 ; 
and it was reaffirmed by the Council of Trent in 
the following decrees : 

" Whoever shall deny that sacramental confes- 
sion was instituted by divine command, or that it is 
necessary to salvation ; or shall affirm that the 
practice of secretly confessing to the priest alone 
as it has ever been observed from the beginning by 
the Catholic Church, and is still observed, is foreign 
to the institution and command of Christ, and is 
a human invention : — Let Him Be Accursed." 

" Whoever shall affirm, that in order to obtain 
forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of penance, it is 
not by divine command necessary to confess all and 
every mortal sin which occurs to the memory after 
due and diligent premeditation — including secret 
offences, etc. : — Let Him Be Accursed." 

The horrible disorders, seductions, adulteries, and 
abominations of every kind that have sprung from 
this practice of auricular confession, especially in 
Spain and other popish countries, are familiar to 
all acquainted with the history of popery for the 
six centuries that have transpired since the fourth 
Council of Lateran. The details of individual facts 
on this subject are hardly fit to meet the public 
eye, though multitudes of them might easily be 
cited, derived not only from the testimony of Pro- 
testants, but from the admissions of Papists them- 
selves, and from the numerous, though ineffectual 



456 Shameful Questions of the Confessional. 

laws that have been passed to restrain the prac- 
tice of priestly solicitation of females at confession. 
Nor can this be matter of surprise. The evil is 
inherent in the system. Let any person of common 
sense examine the list of subjects, and the questions 
for the examination of conscience in any popish 
book of devotion, but more especially (if he under- 
stands Latin) the directions to young priests in 
Dens, and other standard works for the study of 
popish theology; then let him remember that the 
subjects of these beastly inquiries are often young, 
beautiful, and interesting females ; and that the 
questioners are men, often young and vigorous, 
burning with the fires of passion ; in some instances 
almost wrought up to phrenzy by a vow of celibacy 
which they would be glad to shake off, and then he 
will cease to wonder that the confessional has so 
often been turned into a school of licentiousness, 
seduction, and adultery. (See Dowling's " History 
of Romanism.") 

As the debasing questions put to wives, mothers 
and daughters by priests in the confessional are pub- 
lished in plain English in books in general use among 
Roman Catholics, I shall make no apology for intro- 
ducing them here, omitting the most offensive of 
them : " Have you been guilty of fornication, or 
adultery, or incest, or any sin against nature, either 
with a person of your own sex or with any other 
creature? How often? Or have you designed or 
attempted such sin, or sought to induce others to it ? 
How often? Have you been guilty of self-pollu- 



Is it Your Wife or Daughter ? 457 

tion, or of immodest touches of yourself? How 
often? Have you touched others or permitted 
yourself to be touched by others immodestly ? 
How often? Or given or taken wanton kisses or 
embraces, or any other improper liberties ? How 
often? Have you looked on immodest objects with 
pleasure or danger? Read immodest books or 
songs to yourself or others ? Kept indecent pic- 
tures, or sought to have or use anything that was 
immodest? How often? Have you abused the 
marriage bed by any actions contrary to nature? 
How often ? Have you been guilty of any irregu- 
larities in order to hinder your having children ? 
How often ? Have you ever tried to excite your 
own passions ? How often ? Have you ever taken 
indecent liberties with yourself or with your hus- 
band ? Have you without just cause refused the 
marriage debt ? And what sin may have followed 
from it? Have you debauched anyone that was 
innocent before ? Have you taken any one to lewd 
houses ? etc." (See Dowling.) 

We will now simply quote a few paragraphs from 
each of three well-known gentlemen, all of whom 
spent many years in the Romish Church, but heard 
the voice of God saying to them, " Come out of her, 
my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and 
that ye receive not of her plagues ; for her sins have 
reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered 
her iniquities." (Rev. xviii., 4, 5.) As many deluded 
Protestants believe that " the Romish Church has 
improved" and is very different from what she was 



458 Reliable Testimony. 

in the days of " Bloody Queen Mary," for instance, 
we will quote from those who have left her com- 
munion within the last fifty years or so. 

Rev. William Hogan, who had been for many 
years a Roman Catholic priest in Philadelphia, and 
other parts of the country, left that communion, 
and, having been bitterly persecuted by the papists, 
he published a book telling what he knew about 
popery. That book was published in 1845, and in 
eight years more than fifty-six thousand copies were 
sold; and from 1854 to 1860, it is said, probably 
forty thousand additional copies were disposed of. 

Mr. Hogan, after quoting some of the questions 
asked in the confessional, says : " Does any husband 
really know that when his wife goes to confession — 
and probably she leans on his arm while she is go- 
ing there — that the above questions are put to her ? 
Assuredly he does not. Otherwise we must suppose 
him to be a man of base principles in permitting 
such a thing. But even if he should suspect it, 
and ask his wife whether they were put to her ; 
should he call upon the priest and bring him and 
his wife face to face ; should he ask them severally 
whether such questions were put to the wife by the 
priest, they will jointly and severally deny it under 
oath, and in doing this they both feel justified ; or, 
to speak more correctly and plainly, the priest is 
laughing in his sleeve, and his wife is the dupe. 
The reason, however, for the course they pursue is 
this : The infallible Church teaches that when a 
priest is in the confessional he sits there as God, 



An Important Witness. 459 

and not as man ; and when he denies, under oath, 
that he put such questions, he means that he did 
not put such questions as man, but as God ; and 
when the lady is asked whether such questions were 
put to her, she will say, on oath, they were not, 
because it was God, and not man, that asked them. 
I have asked such questions and given such reasons 
over and over again while acting as a Romish priest. 
I have asked till my soul sickened with disgust. 
There is not a priest in the United States that does not 
ask them. No, not one. Judge, then, of the moral 
waste and wilderness which Romish priests are 
effecting by hewing and cleaving down everything 
that blooms, or bears the fruit of virtue and holi- 
ness." 

Father Hogan says : " While officiating as a 

Roman Catholic priest in , I became acquainted 

with a Roman Catholic lady and gentleman of good 
character and considerable wealth. The husband 
stood well in society, and so did the wife ; and I 
believe both deserved it. There was but one barrier, 
to all appearance, in the way of their happiness. 
They had no children, and, having no blood or 
family alliances in the country, this seemed a source 
of distress to the wife; though, I could not help 
remarking that they w T ere an extremely fond couple. 
Not very long after my acquaintance with them, 
the wife called on me, told me her grievance in not 
having children, and asked me how much it would 
cost her to purchase from the Church her interfer- 
ence in the matter, and the blessing of having chil- 



460 Anxious Wife and Accommodating Friar. 

dren. I forgot my usual caution. Indignation 
took the place of policy (It is evident that Father 
Hogan was no Jesuit) ; I forgot for a moment that I 
was bound to keep the secrets of the Pope and the 
infallible Church, and to defend them both, right or 
wrong. I replied indignantly, ' Madam, you are 
the dupe of priestcraft. There is no power in the 
Church to countervail the will of God/ The lady 
retired ; and I cannot give the reader a better idea 
of the papist women, or the consummate villainy of 
Romish priests in the confessional, than by relating 
what followed. She called upon me the day follow- 
ing, related that since she saw me she called on the 

Rev. Mr. , a Franciscan friar, who lived only a 

few doors from me ; and having told him what I 
said to her, he raised his hands in pious astonish- 
ment, and told her he expected nothing better from 
me ; that he had suspected me of heresy for some 
time past, and had now a proof of it, and that I 
should be cast out of the pale of the Church as fit 
society only for the devils ; and, accordingly, in a 
few months after, this holy friar and the holy bishop 
of the diocese solemnly cursed me, from the head to 
the toe-nails, casting me into hell for such damnable 
heresies. I understand that the lady of whom I 
have spoken is now blessed with an interesting 
family of children, and her husband one of the hap- 
piest fathers in the world. Thus are the streams of 
domestic happiness and social life polluted in our 
very midst by Romish priests ; and yet, they are 
encouraged, they are fed, they are sustained, they 



Husbands and Fathers ! Think ! 461 



are received into society by the very men whose 
wives and daughters they have ruined, and with 
whose happiness they have sported and gambled. 

" It is well known to Protestants, even in the 
United States, that it is a common practice of 
Romish priests to seduce females in the confessional, 
and it is, or should be, equally well known that 
these very priests hear the confessions of the very 
females whom they have seduced. It is an article 
of faith in the Roman Catholic church that the 
crimes of a priest do not disqualify him from for- 
giving the sins of his penitent, and hence it is that 
their opportunities for demoralizing every commu- 
nity where they are in the ascendant almost exceed 
conception. Persuade a woman that if she sins, you 
can forgive her as truly and effectually as Almighty 
God could forgive her, and you take away every 
check from vice. All restraint is removed. The 
voice of true religion is silenced, and sin prevails. 

" The iniquity of Romish priests in the confessional 
can scarcely be imagined. There is nothing like it ; 
it is a thing by itself; there is a chasm between 
itself and other crimes which human depravity 
cannot pass. Just fancy our innocent female on 
her knees before an artful, unbelieving priest ! Why 
will they entrust themselves, alone and unprotected 
by father or mother, or brother or honorable lover, 
with these scheming, artful priests? Why will 
mothers, married women, go to confession to these 
men, or why will husbands be such inconceivable 
dupes as to permit it ?" 



462 Some Fruits of Auricular Confession. 

Father Hogan relates a fact well known to him 
when an officiating priest in Albany, N. Y. He 
says : " The Roman Catholics of Albany had, during 
about two years previous to my arrival among them, 
three Irish priests alternately with them, occasion- 
ally preaching, but always hearing confessions. I 
know the names of these men ; one of them is dead, 
the other two living, and now in full communion in 
the Romish church, still saying mass and hearing 
confessions. As soon as I got settled in Albany, I 
had, of course, to attend to the duty of auricular con- 
fession, and in less than two months I found that 
these priests, during the time they were there, were 
the fathers of between sixty and one hundred child- 
ren, besides having debauched many who had left 
the place previous to their confinement. Many of 
these children were by married women, who were 
among the most zealous supporters of those vaga- 
bond priests, and whose brothers and relatives were 
ready to wade, if necessary, knee deep in blood for 
the holy , immaculate and infallible church of Rome /" 
Father Hogan says that in the church in which he 
officiated in Albany there were no confessional boxes, 
so that "the priests had to hear confessions in the 
sacristy of the church. This is a small room back of 
the altar, in which the Eucharist, containing, accord- 
ing to the Romish belief, the real body and blood of 
Jesus Christ is kept while the mass is not celebrating 
in the chapel. This room is always fastened by a lock 
and key of the best workmanship, and the key kept 
by the priest, day and night. This sacristy, con- 



Confessor Before Husband. 463 



taining the wafer which the priests blasphemously 
adore, was used by them as a place to hear confes- 
sions, and here they committed habitually those acts 
of immorality and crime of which I have spoken. 

" I have seen husbands unsuspiciously and hos- 
pitably entertaining the very priest who seduced 
their wives in the confessional, and was the father of 
some of the children who sat at the same table with 
them, each of the wives unconscious of the other's 
guilt, and the husbands of both not even suspecting 
them. The husband of her who goes to confession 
has no hold upon her affections. If he claims a 
right to her confidence he claims what he can never 
receive ; he claims what she has not to give. She 
has long since given it to her confessor, and he can 
never regain it. She looks to her confessor for 
advice in everything. She may appear to be fond 
of her husband ; it is even possible she may be so in 
reality. She may be gentle, meek and obedient to 
her husband, — her confessor will advise her to be 
so ; but she will not give him her confidence ; she 
cannot, — that is already in the hands of her con- 
fessor. He stands as an incarnate fiend between 
husband and wife, mother and daughter. All the 
ties of domestic happiness and reciprocal duties are 
thus violated with impunity through the instru- 
mentality of auricular confession. 

" I care not how intelligent he may appear to be, 
or what his acquirements or accomplishments may 
be ; if he is weak enough, fool enough, or hypocrite 
enough and mean enough to go to confession to a 



464 Lovers of Liberty, Wake Up ! 

Romish priest, he deserves not the name of a 
freeman" 

It would be instructive and profitable to follow 
this earnest and respected ex-priest further, but we 
cannot ; but again and again this excellent writer 
warns the American people to arouse themselves 
from their indifference, and to resolutely resent the 
insults offered to the Protestants of this land, while 
they at the same time repel the insidious and con- 
stant efforts of the bishops and priests of Rome to 
undermine and destroy these glorious institutions 
that have cost the people of these United States so 
great a price. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Priestly Celibacy Made Easy. 

Rev. Dr. Giustiniani, who was a Romish priest in 
the city of Rome itself, but who became converted 
to the truth as it is in Jesus, left the priethood, and 
afterward wrote a book entitled, " Papal Rome, as it 
is." From this work we can quote only two or 
three facts which will serve to illustrate the utterly 
unchristian, and shameful character of the Confes- 
sional. The first is in reference to a young lady of 
about seventeen years of age, in the family where 
the Doctor was boarding. ''One day the mother 
told the daughter to prepare to go with her to-mor- 
row to confess and to commune. The mother unfor- 
tunately feeling unwell the next morning, the 
young lady had to go alone ; when she returned her 
eyes showed that she had been weeping, and her 
countenance indicated that something unusual had 
happened. The mother, as a matter of course, in- 
quired the cause ; but she wept bitterly, and said 
she was ashamed to tell it. Then the mother in- 
sisted, so the daughter told her that the parish 
priest to whom she constantly confessed, asked her 
questions this time which she could not repeat with- 
out a blush. She, however, repeated some of them, 
which were of the most licentious and corrupting 
tendency, and which were better fitted to the lowest 
sink of debauchery than the confessional. Then he 
gave her some instructions which decency forbids 

465 



466 " What Fools These Mortals Be." 

me to repeat ; gave her absolution, and told her be- 
fore she communed she must come into his house, 
which was contiguous to the church. The unsus- 
pecting young creature did as the father confessor 
told her. The rest the reader can imagine. The 
parents, furious, would immediately have gone to 
the archbishop, and laid before him their com- 
plaint; but I advised them to let it be as it was r 
because they would injure the character of their 
daughter more than the priest. All the punish- 
ment he would have received is a suspension for 
a month or two, and then be removed to another 
parish, or even remain where he was. With such 
brutal acts, the history of the confessional is full" 

He also relates the manner of confessing ladies in 
their bed-chamber, in the city in which he had 
long resided. " In that city," he says, " you will see 
the indisposed fair penitent remain in her bed, and 
the Franciscan friar leaving his sandals before the 
door of her bed-chamber, as an indication that he is 
performing some ecclesiastical act, and then not 
even the husband can enter the chamber of his 
wife until the friar has finished his business and 
leaves the chamber ; then the husband, with rever- 
ence ready waiting at the door, kisses the hand of 
the father Franciscan for his kindness in having 
administered spiritual comfort to his wife, and very 
often gives him a dollar to say a mass for his indis- 
posed spouse." 

" But why," continues the doctor, " shall I speak 
of the moral corruption of popery in Rome? It is 



Father Chiniquy on the Confessional 467 

everywhere the same ; it appears differently, but 
never changes its character. In America, where 
female virtue is the characteristic of the nation, it is 
under the control of the papal priest. If a Roman 
Catholic lady, the wife of a free American, should 
choose to have the priest in her bed-room, she has 
only to pretend to be indisposed, and asking for the 
spiritual father, the confessor, no other person, not 
even the husband, dare enter. In Rome, it would 
be at the risk of his life ; in America at the risk of 
being excommunicated, and deprived of all the 
spiritual privileges of the church, and even ex- 
cluded from heaven." 

The third author whom I will quote, is that ven- 
erable, and useful, and greatly admired ex-priest, 
and servant of God, Father Chiniquy. Father 
Chiniquy is now living, and active in Christ's 
service, although he is about eighty-six years of age. 
He is greatly beloved by Christians of all denomi- 
nations. He has led many thousands out from the 
darkness of Popery into " the glorious liberty of the 
children of God," and from a ruinous faith in the 
Pope to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Father Chiniquy 's book — " The Priest, the Woman, 
and the Confessional " — is now before me. We can 
only quote a few brief passages from different parts 
of the book. u I do not exaggerate when I say," 
says Mr. Chiniquy, "that for many noble-hearted, 
well-educated, high-minded women, to be forced to 
unveil their hearts before the eyes of a man, to open 
to him all the most secret recesses of their souls, all 



468 Women Driven to Despair, 

the most sacred mysteries of their single, and mar- 
ried life, to allow him to put to them questions 
which the most depraved woman would never con- 
sent to hear from her vilest seducer, is often more 
horrible and intolerable than to be tied on burning 
coals. 

" More thart once I have seen women fainting in 
the confessional-box, who told me afterwards that 
the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man on 
certain things, on which the common laws of de- 
cency ought to forever have sealed their lips, had 
almost killed them. Not hundreds but thousands 
of times, I have heard from the lips of dying girls, 
as well as of married women, the awful words ; * I 
am forever lost ! All my past confessions and com- 
munions have been so manj^ sacrileges. I have 
never dared to answer correctly the questions of my 
confessors ! Shame has sealed my lips, and damned 
my soul ! ' 

" Would the priest so freely ask this and that from 
a married woman, if he knew that the husband 
could hear him? No, surely not! for he is well 
aware that the enraged husband would blow out the 
brains of the villain who, under the sacrilegious 
pretext of purifying the soul of his wife, is filling 
her soul with every kind of pollution and infamy. 
The confessional is, in the hands of the devil, what 
West Point is to the United States, and what Wool- 
wich is to Great Britain — a training of the army to 
fight and conquer the enemy. It is in the confes- 
sional that five hundred thousand women every 



" The Pope's Black Spidery 469 

day, and one hundred and eighty -two millions every 
year, are trained by the Pope in the act of fighting 
against God, by destroying themselves, and the 
whole world, through every imaginable kind of im- 
purity and filthiness. Once more I entreat the 
legislators, the husbands and the fathers ... in 
America ... to read in Dens, Liguori, De- 
breyne, — in every theological book of Rome, what 
their wives and their daughters have to learn in the 
confessional 

" What remains of the impendent fly after she has 
been entrapped in the nets of her foe ? Nothing but 
a skeleton. So is it with your fair wife, your pre- 
cious daughter ; nine times out of ten, nothing but a 
moral skeleton returns to you, after the Pope's black 
spider has been allowed to suck the very blood of 
her heart and soul. . . . 

" When, very early the next morning, I had begun 
to hear the confessions, one of those unfortunate 
victims of the confessor's depravity came to me, and 
in the midst of many tears and sobs, she told me, 
with great details, what I repeat here in a few lines : 

" 1 1 was only nine years old when my first con- 
fessor began to do very criminal things with me, 
every time I was at his feet confessing my sins. At 
first I was ashamed and much disgusted ; but soon 
after I became so depraved that I was looking 
eagerly for every opportunity of meeting him, either 
in his own house or in the church, in the vestry, and 
many times in his own garden when it was very 
dark at night. That priest did not remain very 



470 A Dreadful Confession. 

long ; he was removed, to my great regret, to 
another place, where he died. He was succeeded by 
another, who seemed at first to be a very holy man. 
I made to him a general confession with, it seemed 
to me, a sincere desire to give up forever that sinful 
life ; but I fear that my confessions became a cause 
of sin to that good priest ; for not long after my con- 
fession was finished he declared to me, in the con- 
fessional, his love, with such passionate words that 
he soon brought me down again into my former 
criminal habits with him. This lasted six years, 
when my parents removed to this place. I was very 
glad of it, for I hoped that, being away from him, I 
should not be any more a cause of sin to him, and 
that I might begin a better life. But the fourth 
time I went to confess to my new confessor he in- 
vited me to go to his room, where w T e did things so 
disgusting together that I do not know how to con- 
fess them. It was two days before my marriage, 
and the only child I have had is the fruit of that 
sinful hour. 

" 'After my marriage I continued the same crimi- 
nal life with my confessor. He was the friend of 
my husband ; we had many opportunities of being 
together, not only when I was going to confess, but 
when my husband was absent and my child was at 
school. It was evident to me that many other 
women were as miserable and criminal as I was 
myself. This sinful intercourse with my confessor 
w r ent on till God Almighty stopped it With a real 
thunderbolt. My dear only daughter had gone to 



A Mother's Shocking Story. 471 

confess, and received the holy communion. As she 
came back from church much later than I expected, 
I inquired the reason that had kept her so long. 
She then threw herself into my arms, and, with con- 
vulsive cries, said, i Dear mother, do not ask me to 
go to confess any more. Oh, if you could only 
know w T hat the confessor asked me when I was at 
his feet! And if you could know what he has done 
with me. and has forced me to do with him, when 
he had me alone in his parlor!' My poor child 
could not speak any longer; she fainted in my 
arms. As soon as she recovered, without losing a 
minute I dressed myself, and, full of an inexpressi- 
ble rage, I directed my steps toward the parsonage. 
But before leaving my house I had concealed under 
my shawl a sharp butcher's knife, to stab and kill 
the villain w r ho had destroyed my dearly beloved 
child. Fortunately for that priest, God changed 
my mind before I entered his room. My words to 
him were few and sharp. 

" 4 You are a monster !' I said to him. ' Not satis- 
fied to have destroyed me, you must also destroy 
my own dear child, which is yours also! Shame 
upon you ! I had come with a knife to put an end 
to your infamies, but so short a punishment would 
be too mild a one for such a monster. I want you 
to live, that you may bear upon your head the curse 
of the two unsuspecting and unguarded friends 
whom you have so cruelly deceived and betrayed. 
But know that if you are not away from this place 
before the end of this w r eek, I will reveal everything 



472 " That Bottomless Sea of Iniquity" 

to my husband, and you may be sure that he will 
not let you live twenty-four hours longer ; for he 
sincerely thinks that your daughter is his; he will 
be the avenger of her honor ! I go this very day 
to denounce you to the bishop, that he may take 
you away from this parish, which you have so 
shamelessly polluted.' 

" ' The priest threw himself at my feet, and, with 
tears, asked my pardon, imploring me not to 
denounce him to the bishop, and promising that he 
would change his life and begin to live as a good 
priest. But I remained inexorable. I went to the 
bishop and warned his Lordship of the consequences 
that would follow if he kept that curate any longer 
in the place, as he seemed inclined to do. But 
before the eight days had expired he was put at the 
head of another parish, not very far away from here/ n 

Mr. Chiniquy says : " The reader will, perhaps, 
like to know what became of that priest. He 
remained at the head of that beautiful parish of 
Beaumont, where, I know it for a fact, he continued 
to destroy his penitents till a few years before he 
died, with the reputation of a good, an amiable 
man, and a holy confessor." 

In conversation with another priest on the con- 
fessional, Mr. Chiniquy says : " With a blush on my 
face, and regret in my heart, I confess before God 
and man that I have been, like you, and with you, 
through the confessional, plunged for twenty-five 
years in that bottomless sea of iniquity in which the 
blind priests of Rome have to swim day and night. 



" Confessional a School of Perdition. 473 

I had to learn by heart, like you, the infamous ques- 
tions which the Church of Rome forces every priest 
to learn. I put those impure, immoral questions 
to old and young females who were confessing their 
sins to me. These questions (you know it) are of 
such a nature that no prostitute would dare to put 
them to another. These questions and the answers 
they elicit are so debasing that no man (you know 
it), except a priest of Rome, is sufficiently lost to 
every sense of shame to put them to any woman. 
Yes, I was bound in conscience, as you are bound 
to-day, to put into the ears, the mind, the imagina- 
tion, thje memory, the heart and soul of females, 
questions of such a nature, the direct and immedi- 
ate tendency of which (you know it well) is to fill 
the minds and hearts of both priests and female 
penitents with thoughts, phantoms and temptations 
of such a degrading nature that I do not know any 
words adequate to express them. Pagan antiquity 
has never seen any institution more polluting than 
the confessional. I know nothing more corrupting 
than the law which forces a female to tell her 
thoughts, desires and most secret feelings and 
actions to an unmarried priest. The confessional is 
a school of perdition. 

" The confession-box is the daily witness of abom- 
inations that would hardly have been tolerated in 
the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

" Study the pages of history — the history of Eng- 
land, France, Italy, Spain, etc., etc. ; and you will 
see that the gravest and most reliable historians 



474 The Priest Rules the Home. 

have, everywhere, found mysteries of iniquity in 
the confessional-box which their pens refused to 
trace. In the presence of such public, undeniable 
facts have not the civilized nations a duty to per- 
form ? Woman is to society w r hat the roots are to 
the most precious trees of your orchard. If you 
knew that a thousand worms were biting the roots 
of those noble trees, that their leaves are daily 
fading away, their rich fruits, though yet unripe, 
are falling on the ground, would you not unearth 
the roots, and sweep away the worms ? 

" The confessor is the worm which is biting, pol- 
luting, and destroying the very roots of civil and 
religious society, by contaminating, debasing, and 
enslaving woman. 

" Can a man be free in his own house so long as 
there is another who has the legal right to spy all 
his actions, and direct not only every step but every 
thought of his wife and children ? Can that man 
boast of a home whose w r ife and children are under 
the control of another? Is not that unfortunate 
man really the slave of the ruler and master of his 
household ? And when a whole nation is composed 
of such husbands and fathers, is it not a nation of 
abject, degraded slaves f 

"And free America will see all her so dearly 
bought liberties destroyed, the day that the confes- 
sional-box is universally reared in her midst. 

" Auricular Confession and Liberty cannot stand 
together on the same ground ; either one or the 
other must fall. 



Sweep Away the Confessional. 475 

"Liberty must sweep away the confessional, as she 
has swept away the demon of slavery, or she is 
doomed to perish" 

Monasticlsm is also an " abomination" assiduously 
cherished by the " Mother of harlots " as one of her 
own offspring ; while in fact it had long existed as a 
Pagan institution — like almost everything else 
connected with the Papacy — and adopted by her in 
order to conciliate Pagan worshippers, and entice 
them into the so-called Christian Church. This is 
the last of the " abominations " we shall have space 
to mention; although it must be apparent to all 
thoughtful readers of this book that the w T hole sys- 
tem of the Papacy is a system of abominations. In 
speaking of the monastic life, or life in monasteries, 
nunneries, and convents, we shall confine ourselves 
to quoting the language of those w T ho have been be- 
hind the scenes, and are, therefore, the most compe- 
tent witnesses. As the licentious and profligate 
character of these institutions is so generally w r ell- 
known to intelligent readers, it will suffice here 
to present a few facts, and personal experiences, as 
given by these witnesses. 

Rev. Mr. Hogan — who brought to this country 
the most flattering testimonials from bishops and 
priests, and others — says : u How, for instance, 
could it be expected that American Protestants 
believe what is related by Michelet of the Capuchin 
friar, as quoted by me in one of the preceding 
pages? Can an American Protestant suppose it pos- 
sible that a Romish priest could persuade all the 



476 Shocking Revelations. 

nuns in a convent that he had a revelation from 
God, commissioning him, especially, to tell those 
nuns individually, that it was their duty to have 
a criminal connection with himself, under pain of 
eternal damnation ? Such a thing would only excite 
the risible faculties of an American Protestant ; 
even the male portion of Roman Catholics will not 
believe such a thing possible. There was a period 
when I would not believe it myself, and when the 
idea of a popish priest seducing a nun, or adminis- 
tering poison to get possession of a man's w r ife, or 
his daughter, or his property, was impossible,, 
though history informed of such things being done 
in a Romish Church ; and had I not become a 
Roman Catholic priest, and been myself a confessor,. 
I should until this day have turned a deaf ear ta 
such facts. I should look upon popish priests and 
bishops, who were charged with them, as persecuted 
men, and probably extend to them the sympathy 
and support which Protestant Americans are now 
doing throughout this country. 

" Were any one to come to me before I was a 
Roman Catholic priest, and confessor, and tell me 
that the Protestant young lady to whom I have so 
often alluded, should go to a school kept by Popish 
nuns, — that they w T ould convert her from the relig- 
ion of her birth, make her a Papist, cause her to go 
to confession, — that the confessor would seduce her, 
and that the superior mother abbess would cause 
her death in trying to produce an abortion, — I 
would not have believed him. I should have looked 



Shall Pope or People Rule ? 477 

upon him as some fanatic, or some evil disposed 
person, actuated by malice against Romish priests 
and nunneries ; but after becoming a priest myself, 
and a confessor, I not only believed such a thing 
possible, but witnessed it. And though I could weep, 
I could not prevent it ; such was the nature of my 
sacerdotal oath of secrecy ; such were my obliga- 
tions to support the Pope, and the honor of his 
infallible church. 

" This country is now a fair field for popish ma- 
noeuvering. Rome has seen this for twenty years 
past, and has made her preparations accordingly. 
While this new country was busy in forming her 
alliances abroad, regulating her commerce, and 
making her treaties with foreign nations ; while she 
w r as dividing her states, settling her domestic terri- 
torial disputes, regulating her laws, and defining 
her bounderies, Rome was awake, — her spies were 
amongst you. They walked carefully round the 
citadel of your freedom ; they saw that it was not 
sufficiently manned, that it was accessible from 
many points, and accordingly they poured into it 
platoon after platoon, regiment after regiment of 
the Pope's troops, until they had sufficient force to 
take possession whenever they deemed it necessary ; 
and they now tell Americans that the Pope is their 
legitimate sovereign, and that Americans are but 
' the cowardly sons of cowardly pirates/ They 
even go further; they perpetuate the grossest out- 
rages upon every law, moral and civil, in defiance 
of American jurisprudence. They keep their nun- 



478 The Prioress of St. Catherine. 

neries, or rather seraglios, in the very midst of them, 
surround them with ramparts, and not only deny to 
their civil magistrates the right of entrance, but 
they defy them to do so. This every American 
citizen knows to be a fact; at least it is known 
in the city of Boston, where I now write." 

While on this subject, I will again quote a few 
lines from Father Chiniquy's interesting book. He 
gives us the statements of the Prioress of St. Cathe- 
rine, who, in writing of her own knowledge and ex- 
perience with priests and nuns, says : " ' They are on 
more intimate terms with the nuns than if they 
were married to them ! I repeat it, it would require 
a great deal of time to tell half of what I know. It 
is the custom now, when they come to hear the con- 
fessions of a sick sister, to sup with the nuns, sing, 
dance, play, and sleep in the convent. It is a 
maxim of theirs that God has forbidden hatred, but 
not love ; and that man is made for woman, and 
woman for man. I say that they can deceive the 
innocent, and the most prudent and circumspect, 
and that it would be a miracle to converse with 
them and not fall ! 

u ' The priests are the husbands of the nuns, and 
the lay brothers of the lay sisters. In the chamber 
of one of the nuns I have mentioned, a man was 
one day found ; he fled away, but soon after they 
gave him to us for our confessor extraordinary. 
How many bishops there are in the Papal States 
who have come to the knowledge of these disorders, 
have held examinations and visitations, and yet 



A Voice from the Nunneries. 471> 

never could remedy it, because the monks, our con- 
fessors, tell us that those are excommunicated who 
reveal what passes in the Order ! 

" ' Poor creatures ! the) 7 think they are leaving the 
world to escape dangers, and they only meet with 
greater ones. Our fathers and mothers have given 
us a good education, and here we have to unlearn, 
and forget what they have taught us. 

" ' Do not suppose that this is the case in our con- 
vent alone. Everywhere it is the same. Yes, every- 
where the same disorders, the same abuses prevail. 
I say, and I repeat it, let the superiors suspect as 
they may, they do not know the smallest part of 
the enormous wickedness that goes on between the 
monks and the nuns whom they confess. Every 
monk who passed by on his way to the chapter, 
entreated a sick sister to confess to him, and ! 

" ■ With respect to Father Buzachini, I say that he 
acted just as the others, sitting up late in the 
nunnery, diverting himself, and letting the usual 
disorders go on. There were several nuns who had 
love affairs on his account. His own principal mis- 
tress was Odaldi, of St. Lucia, who used to send him 
continual treats. He was also in love with the 
daughter of our factor, of whom they were very 
jealous here. He ruined also poor Cancellieri, who 
was sextoness. The monks are all alike with their 
penitents/ 

" My pen," says Father Chiniquy, " refuses to re- 
produce several things which the nuns of Italy 
have published against their father confessors. But 



480 Throw Open the Nunneries. 

this is enough to show to the most incredulous that 
the confessional is nothing but a school of perdition, 
even among those who make a profession to live in 
the highest regions of Roman Catholic holiness — 
the monks and the nuns." 

There are many Protestants, and even Protestant 
ministers, who delude themselves into saying — " 0, 
the Roman Catholic Church is different from what 
it once was ; it has greatly improved, so we have 
nothing to apprehend from its growth." We will 
quote Father Hogan's reply to this. He says : u I 
tell you, Americans, that you are mistaken in your 
inference. Priests, nuns and confessors are the same 
now that they were then, all over the world. Many 
•of you have visited Paris, and do you not there see, 
at the present day, a lying-in hospital attached to 
every nunnery in the city ? The same is to be seen 
in Madrid, and the principal cities of Spain. I have 
seen them myself in Mexico, and in the city of 
Dublin, Ireland. And what is the object of these 
hospitals? It is chiefly to provide for the illicit 
offspring of priests and nuns, and such other unmar- 
ried females as the priests can seduce through the 
confessional. But it may be said there are no 
lying-in hospitals attached to nunneries in this 
country. True, there are not ; but I say, of my own 
knowledge, and from my own experience through 
the confessional, that it would be well if there were ; 
there would be fewer abortions, there would be fewer 
infants strangled and murdered. It is not generally 
.known to Americans that the crime of producing 



Another Escaped Nun Testifies. 481 

abortion — a crime which our laws pronounce to be 
felony — is a common, every-day crime in Popish 
nunneries. It is not known to Americans, but let 
it henceforth be known to them, that strangling 
and putting to death infants is common in nun- 
neries throughout this country." This is the testi- 
mony of scores of priests and nuns who have left the 
Church of Rome. 

Mrs. Margaret L. Shepperd, now living, and who 
was an inmate of Arno's Court Convent, Bristol, 
England, and who is well known in this country as 
a most useful, eloquent lecturer, endorsed by scores 
of Protestant ministers and some of the very best 
people in the land, says, in a book now before me : 
" Oh, how many sad, heart-breaking stories could the 
walls of the convent of Arno's Court reveal if they 
were but able to speak ! How some priests who 
now walk with uplifted heads would shrink away 
from the gaze of their fellow-men, if their dark and 
evil deeds were known I And how unnecessary 
would such penitential nunneries be, if it were not 
for a licentious and lecherous priesthood ! These 
holy celibates, who are wolves in sheep's clothing, 
and who, under the cassock, carry a heart full of 
corruption ; who know no pity when seeking to lure 
a young and innocent girl into sin — ah, how easy 
the church makes it for such lepers by placing the 
victim in a house of penance, and the child born of 
sin into one of the foundling hospitals under the 
care of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. 

" I do not hesitate to say," says this escaped nun, 



482 Foundling Hospitals. 



" that eighty per cent, of the children in these institu- 
tions are the illegitimate offspring of Roman Catho- 
lic priests; and Protestants sometimes vie with each 
other in giving large donations to support these 
foundling hospitals. 

"I have often been asked whether nunneries are 
places where Roman Catholic priests commit im- 
morality with the Sisters. All I can say is, that 
when a woman enters such an institution and takes 
her vow of obedience, she is told that she must do 
whatever is requested of her. She must sink her in- 
dividuality into that of her spiritual superiors ; and 
should she be told to do anything that is against 
her conscience, then she is told that the moral obli- 
gation of the sin rests upon the one who told her 
under obedience to commit it, and that all she has 
to do is to be Obedient ! Should she hesitate, then 
her life becomes a perfect hell upon earth. For her 
there is no womanly sympathy. She is told that 
any intercourse between herself and the priest is 
similar in character to the shadowing of the Holy 
Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and that the body of the 
priest is sanctified, that it is her duty to submit to 
him, for the union thus effected is blessed of God, 
and is ' Holy.' It is usual for a Sister to go into 
retreat for one day when expecting a visit from these 
' holy fathers.' 

" Having acquainted the Reverend Mother of the 
date of the proposed visit, she gives the Sister per- 
mission to absent herself from the duties of the day. 
The priest arrives; he is shown into the retreat 



Convent Life a Hell Upon Earth. 483 

parlor; and no matter how long he remains there, 
no one will disturb him. He is supposed to be talk- 
ing with ' his penitent on the welfare of her soul. 
Could any one look through the door they would 
find the confessor with his arms around the fair 
penitent, or, perhaps, in a far more compromising 
position. Does my reader ask whether the Sister is 
willing to submit to these embraces ? I answer that, 
in fifteen out of twenty cases, No ! But she is there 
helpless, the priest has seen her, taken a fancy to 
her, and, willing or not, he compels her to allow him 
to satisfy his passion. Oh, God ! Great God ! When 
I think of this System, this System born of the 
devil ; nurtured in hell — and realize that under the 
cloak of religion it is stealing away our liberities, 
entering into our homes, ruining our pure woman- 
hood, despoiling childish purity, defiling every- 
thing with which it comes in contact, then in spite 
of all that has been said and done against me it 
seems as if I cannot remain quiet. But closing my 
eyes and ears to every other thing, I have to stand 
up, and cry out, and warn the people of this and 
other lands of the great danger threatening us. 
Convent life is a hell upon earth, it is a blot on any 
land." 

Sufficient has been said to prove that " convent 
life is a hell upon earth." But the evidence of this 
fact has not just now been presented ; it has been 
before the world for ages and centuries. Prophets 
and apostles, inspired of God, many centuries ago 
predicted the coming of Antichrist Many figures, 



484 Nunneries are Disorderly Houses. 



symbols, and names have been employed to desig- 
nate and describe this great foe of God and man. 
We are now regarding her as she is described by the 
apostle John, as the " Mother of harlots, and abomina- 
tions of the earth" No system of iniquity that has 
ever arisen to curse the world has so completely and 
exactly corresponded to the prophetic description as 
the apostate Church of Rome. The dreadful l< Beast " 
that came up " out of the bottomless pit " has reached 
the shores of this fair land, and is to-day blighting, 
and withering, and cursing, and defiling everything 
with which it comes in contact. 

Again and again the attention of the rulers and 
people of these United States has been called to the 
convents and nunneries that are so numerous in our 
free country, and that are a disgrace to our Ameri- 
can civilization. Almost times without number 
evidence has been presented that these convents and 
nunneries are houses of prostitution and dens of 
moral uncleanness. As such they should be raided 
by the police, like other disorderly houses. 

The Constitution of the United States provides 
that no one shall be deprived of his liberty except 
for crime, nor " without due process of law ;" and 
yet there are nearly ninety thousand helpless women 
and girls confined within the gloomy walls of these 
prisons, called convents and nunneries, placed 
beyond the protection of our laws, and are held in 
bondage in violation of their constitutional rights. 
These many thousands of women and young girls 
are pining away in unutterable misery and grief; 



The Dying Nun. 485 



separated from fond fathers, and mothers, and 
brothers, and sisters, and all that is dear to them on 
earth. We will give a simple but very pathetic fact 
from Mrs. Margaret L. Shepperd's book — " My Life 
in the Convent" — as a specimen of multitudes of 
similar cases. It appears that a young nun was 
dying of consumption and was in great distress of 
mind, feeling sure that she would have to spend a 
long time in purgatory. " ' I know/ she said, i that 
I shall have a long purgatory.' She shuddered as 
she spoke. ' And oh ! I do hope the dear Sisters 
will remember me in their prayers and commu- 
nion/ 

" Dear Sister Madeline/' I said at last, " purgatory 
is better than hell ; and our Blessed Lady will inter- 
cede for you." 

" ' Yes, dear Sister Magdalene Adelaide/ she said, 
1 you are right ; but oh ! I cannot help the shudder 
that passes through me as I think of the suffering I 
shall be in for years, especially after all the mortifi- 
cations I have practiced here, the discipline I have 
applied to myself, the days I have abstained from 
food, the prayers I have offered, the tears I have 
slled ; and now that death approaches, there is no 
prospect before me but a long term of purgatorial 
punishment. Besides, the punishment will be all 
the greater since I have given way to an unnatural 
thought.' 

" And what, may I ask, do you call an unnatural 
thought ? 

"' Sister Magdalene Adelaide, come close to me/ 

" I rose from my chair and knelt down beside her. 



486 The Dying Nun wants Her Mother. 

" i Dear Sister, I have endeavored to bear my 
cross/ she commenced, speaking with difficulty; 
1 but oh ! Sister, I dread the end. I have so much 
to expiate, and oh ! ' she continued, her voice now 
choked with sobs, ' if I could only have my mother 
with me ; if I could only hear her voice once more ; 
it is so long since I have seen her. I have asked for 
any letter that may have come, but they tell me 
none has arrived, and oh ! I don't think my mother 
has quite forgotten me.' Presently she said, ' I 
know it is wrong to grieve so much ; but oh, I am so 
weak I ' 

" Presently I heard her murmur, and, listening, I 
heard her whisper, i My feet ! oh, my feet ! ' I arose 
from my chair and removed the sheet, with the in- 
tention of rubbing her limbs; as I did so her feet 
were disclosed. A thrill of horror passed through 
my being as I looked at them ; for they were all cut, 
festered, and bruised. A fearful suspicion took 
possession of me, and stooping down, I picked up 
her shoes. On examination I discovered in them 
pieces of broken glass. A thrill akin to horror ran 
through my whole frame. I held the shoes in my 
hands, and looked at the pale, suffering face of 
Madeline as she lay on her bed ; and as I write this 
evening, the whole scene rises before me. There she 
lay ; the sin of her past life being that she, too, had 
been deceived at the altars of Rome, a victim of 
priestly solicitation in the confessional. Even as 
she lay there in the last stages of consumption, 
traces of what had at one time been a beautiful face 



Rome Mocks the Dying. 487 

were clearly discernible. What had she not suffered 
for years ! And yet she was young — hardly twenty- 
five years old. 

" Oh, Madeline, poor, wounded, betrayed one ! 
Who can wonder, as you lay there with the fever of 
consumption running and coursing through your 
veins, that in spite of all the teachings and practices 
of self-denial in the convent life in which you had 
lived so many years, yet, when the hour of death 
drew nigh, and your soul was hovering on the 
borders of an unknown eternity, your thoughts went 
back once more to the old home scenes, and you 
longed, as only a child can, for the sight of your 
mother's face, the sound of your mother's voice, and 
the touch of the cool, soothing hand of your mother 
on your fevered brow ? They tried to crush down 
the natural love that God placed in your heart for 
your mother ; but they could not." 

It is the pride and boast of the American people 
that in no country in the world are women so re- 
spected, and honored, and protected as with us ; but 
where is the manhood and chivalry of American 
fathers and brothers, who will permit ninety thou- 
sand women to be held in bondage behind prison 
walls for the gratification of the licentious priests of 
Rome, without even so much as an earnest protest 
at the ballot-box against the monstrous outrage ? 
Why do American statesmen seem indifferent to 
these foreign institutions, whose existence in this 
land is an affront to justice, and an insult to the 
very spirit of our free institutions ? Is it not because 
the priests of Rome control so many votes? 



438 Husbands, Sons and Brothers, Listen ! 

Of late there has come into existence a patriotic 
order known as the " A. P. A." — American Protec- 
tive Association — one of whose contentions is that 
all convents and nunneries shall be open to public 
inspection, and that no woman shall be restrained 
of her liberty against her will. Let every American 
citizen show his respect for womanhood by co- 
operating with these noble patriots at the ballot-box, 
in their endeavor to remove this great curse from 
our land. 

It is needless to pursue this enumeration of 
Romish abominations any farther, for the facts 
here presented furnish most conclusive and over- 
whelming proof that the predicted Antichrist, " the 
Mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth" finds 
a complete fulfilment in the Church of Rome. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
The Woman Drunken With Blood. 

" And I saw the woman drunken with the blood 
of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus : 
and when I saw her I wondered with great admira- 
tion. 

"And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou 
marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, 
and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the 
seven heads and ten horns. 

" The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and 
shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into 
perdition : and they that dwell on the earth shall 
wonder whose names were not written in the book 
of life from the foundation of the world, when they 
behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 

" And here is the mind which hath wisdom. 
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the 
woman sitteth. And there are seven Kings: five 
are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; 
and when he cometh, he must continue a short 
space. 

" And the beast that was, and is not, even he is 
the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdi- 
tion. 

" And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten 
Kings," etc. (Rev. xvii : 6-12.) 

We will speak of the locality of the " Mother of 
harlots/ 7 before speaking of her being " drunken 

489 



490 Rome, the Harlot's Headquarters. 

with the blood of the saints,'' as this will help to 
identify her as unmistakably the Church of Rome. 
The angel said to John, " I will tell thee the mystery 
of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, 
which hath the seven heads, and ten horns," etc. 

The mystery of the beast is first explained ; and 
the beast is considered first in general under a three- 
fold state, or succession, as existing, and then ceas- 
ing to be, and then reviving again, so as to become 
another, and yet the same. A beast in the prophetic 
style, as before observed, is a tyrannical idolatrous 
empire: and the Roman Empire was idolatrous 
under The Heathen Emperors, and then ceased to 
be so under the Christian emperors, — for a time — 
and then again became idolatrous under the Roman 
Pontiffs, and so hath continued ever since. It is 
the same idolatrous power revived again, but only 
in another form ; and all the corrupt part of man- 
kind, whose names are not enrolled as good citizens 
in the registers of heaven, are pleased at the 
revival of it; but in this last form it shall "go 
into perdition." It shall not, as it did before, cease 
for a time, and revive again ; but shall be destroyed 
forever. 

The seven heads have a double signification. They 
are primarily "seven mountains on which the 
woman sitteth," — on which the capital city is 
seated, which all students know to be the actual 
situation of Rome. Historians, geographers, poets, 
all speak of Rome as the city of seven hills, and a 



Pagan Becomes Papal Rome. 491 

plainer description could not be given of it, without 
expressing the name, which there were excellent 
reasons for not doing. " And there are seven Kings " 
etc. And here again we see that Rome is meant, 
for here is reference to the seven forms of government 
that have succeeded each other in the history of 
Rome. " Five are fallen : " five of these forms of 
government have already passed ; and " one is : " 
the sixth is now subsisting ; in the time when these 
words were written : " and the other is not yet 
come." It evidently appears that the sixth form of 
government which was existing in John's time was 
the imperial ; and w r e all know that the Papal form 
of government succeeded the imperial, and has con- 
tinued to exist until the present time. 

" The ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings" 
etc. This is in exact accordance with the statement 
in Daniel (Chapter vii : 24) "The ten horns out of 
this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise." So 
we see that the inspired Prophet, and the inspired 
Apostle are both speaking of the same hateful 
power, and that power is the Church of Rome. (See 
Newton, On the Prophecies). 

We now return to what was said of " the Mother 
of harlots : " "I saw 7 the woman drunken with the 
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the 
martyrs of Jesus." A reeling, intoxicated harlot — 
for that is the image that is kept before us all along. 
The phraseology is derived from the barbarous 
custom (still extant among many pagan nations) of 



492 Rome' 8 Right to Murder. 

drinking the blood of enemies slain in the way of 
revenge. The effect of drinking blood is said to be 
to exasperate, and to intoxicate with passion and a 
desire to revenge. The meaning here is that the 
persecuting power here referred to would shed the 
blood of the saints, and that not merely once or 
twice, as in outbursts of passion or uncontrollable 
rage ; but would do it deliberate^, extensively, as 
if streams of blood should flow sufficiently to keep 
the slaughterers in a constant state of intoxication,, 
and the more blood they drank the more their rage 
against the saints would increase. And where shall 
we look for that accursed persecuting power, which r 
according to Daniel, was to " make war with the 
saints," and " wear out the saints of the Most 
High;" and which, according to John, was to be- 
come " drunk with the blood of the saints," except 
to the cruel, and persecuting, and blood-thirsty 
Romish Church ? 

Our limits preclude our giving more than a mere 
outline of the history of Rome's bloody deeds. It 
w T ill be well to bear in mind that Romish bishops 
and cardinals, and even councils, have publicly 
declared that the Church has a right to persecute 
and kill heretics. Cardinal Bellarmine is the great 
champion of Romanism, and expounder of its 
doctrines. He was the nephew of Pope Marcellus, 
and is acknowledged by Romanists to be one of 
their standard writers. In the twenty-first and 
twenty-second chapters of his book on The Laity, he 



Cardinal Bellarmine. 493 

-enters on an eleborate argument to prove the right 
of the Romish Church to punish heretics with 
death. He says : " We will briefly show that the 
Church has the power, and ought to cast off incor- 
rigible heretics, especially those who have relapsed, 
and that the secular power ought to inflict on such, 
temporal punishments, and even death itself. " He 
presents many arguments to prove this proposition 
which we cannot present here ; but we give the fol- 
lowing as a specimen : " Experience proves that 
there is no other remedy ; for the Church has step 
by step tried all remedies, — first, excommunication 
alone, then pecuniary penalties ; afterward, banish- 
ment ; and lastly, has been forced to put them to 
death ; to send them to their own place" The Pope, it 
is known, sends all heretics to hell, as " their own 
place." That the Church of the Pope has the right 
to murder heretics is the claim of the Church at 
this present time. The last pope, Pius IX., no longer 
ago than 1864, in his Syllabus of Errors of that 
date, infallibly declares it to be an error " to say 
that" the Roman Pontiffs, and ecumenical councils 
have exceeded the limits of their power, and have 
usurped the rights of princes," etc., (23). He de- 
nounces it as " an error" to say that " the Church 
has not the power of availing herself of force, or any 
direct, or indirect temporal power." (24). Here the 
Pope justifies all the horrible, and wholesale 
murders that have been committed by his prede- 
cessors, and insists that they had a right to do what 



494 Wolves Destroy God's Sheep. 

they did, and that she still has the right to murder 
Protestants. Thank God, she has not the power, as 
yet, in these United States ! 

We have already seen the bloody havoc made of 
the noble and godly Albigenses by the authority of 
Pope Innocent III. Nothing more than a very brief 
sketch of the barbarities perpetrated on the Wal- 
denses can now be given. They were a Bible-lov- 
ing, popery-hating, God-fearing people. Romanists 
themselves bear testimony to the purity of their lives. 
About the year 1400 a violent outrage was commit- 
ted upon the Waldenses, who inhabited the Valley 
of Pragela, in Piedmont, where, shut in by the lofty 
and snow-capped mountains, they were in some 
degree sheltered from their popish persecutors. The 
attack was made toward the end of December, when 
the mountains are covered with snow. Being ap- 
prised of their danger, in order to escape from the 
fierce human wolves that were ready to destroy them, 
their only alternative was to flee to the highest 
mountains of the Alps with their wives and' chil- 
dren, the unhappy mothers often carrying their 
infants in their arms and leading such little ones as 
could walk ; and so they climbed the snow-covered 
hills in search of a refuge from their pursuers, and 
many of them were slaughtered by the pious mem- 
bers of " the only true church " before they could 
reach a hiding place. But the terrible exposure 
to the biting cold of the mountains was more 
destructive than the swords and daggers of " the 
faithful," for in the morning it was found that four- 



Four Hundred Children Perish. 495 

score of their infants had expired during the night, 
many of them pressed to their mother's bosoms ; 
and many mothers, too, were dead, and others 
dying. 

Nearly a century later, in consequence of a fero- 
cious bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII., (another 
innocent ! !) a most fierce and cruel persecution was 
carried on against the Waldenses in the valleys of 
Loyse and Frassiniere. A band of soldiers having 
found the villages deserted, led on by their bigoted 
and blood-thirsty lieutenant, sought out the hiding- 
places of the frightened fugitives, and, having found 
some of them hiding in caves, and causing wood 
and stubble to be placed at the entrances to the 
caves, he kindled a fire, by which four hundred chil- 
dren were suffocated, many of them in the embrace of 
their mothers and fathers, many of whom also per- 
ished from suffocation, while multitudes, in order 
to escape, rushed headlong from their caverns upon 
the rocks below, w T here they were dashed in pieces ; 
or, if any escaped death from these causes, they 
were immediately slaughtered by the cruel soldiery. 
" It is held as unquestionably true," says Perrin, 
in his History of the Waldenses, "that more than 
three thousand persons belonging to the Valley of 
Loyse perished on this occasion." 

Speaking of the horrible cruelties inflicted on the 
Waldenses, in 1560 a Neapolitan historian of that 
age, Tommaso Costo, himself a Roman Catholic, 'after 
giving some account of the Calabrian heretics, says : 
" Some had their throats cut, others were sawn 



496 Mother and Babe Hurled Over the Rocks. 

through the middle, and others thrown from the 
top of a high cliff. All were cruelly, but deservedly, 
put to death. It was strange to hear of their obsti- 
nacy, for, while the father saw his son put to death, 
and the son his father, they not only showed no 
symptoms of grief, but said joyfully that they would 
be angels of God. So much had the devil, to whom 
they had given themselves up as a prey, deceived 
them." 

About the middle of the seventeenth century, the 
barbarity and wholesale cruelty and slaughter in- 
flicted on the Waldenses in the valleys of Piedmont, 
by their popish persecutors, was such as to excite a 
general feeling of indignation and remonstrance in 
all the Protestant states of Europe. Many were 
hurled over precipices and dashed to pieces. Sir 
Samuel Morland, who was appointed ambassador 
by Oliver Cromwell to bear the remonstrances of 
Protestant England against these popish cruelties, 
published, on his return, a minute account of the 
sufferings of the Waldenses, in which he relates that, 
in one instance, at least, u a mother was hurled down 
a mighty rock, with a little infant in her arms, and, 
three days after, was found dead, with the little 
child alive, but fast clasped between the arms of the 
dead mother, which were cold and stiff, insomuch 
that those who found them had much ado to get the 
young child out." 

The great poet, John Milton, the author of Para- 
dise Lost, mentions this fact in a sonnet intended to 
excite sympathy for the " slaughtered saints." 



Can This be the Church of Christ ? 497 

On the Late Massacre in Piedmont. 
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 

Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; 

Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones 
Forget not : in thy book record their groans 

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 

Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled 
Mother with infant doivn the rocks. Their moans 

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
To heaven. Their martyr' d blood and ashes sow 

O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
The tripled tyrant ; that from these may grow 

A hundredfold, who having learned thy way 

Early may fly the Babylonian woe. 
fSee any of the numerous Histories of the Waldenses.] 

The infernal barbarities perpetrated on the Pro- 
testants, throughout the whole world, by means of 
that bloody tribunal, blasphemously called the 
" Holy (! ! !) Inquisition/ 7 it is impossible for human 
language to describe. Numerous w r ere the persecu- 
tions of different sects from Constantine's time to the 
Reformation ; but when the famous Martin Luther 
arose and opposed the errors and ambition of the 
Church of Rome, and the sentiments of this great 
and good man began to spread, the pope and his 
clergy joined all their forces to prevent, or at least 
to hinder, their progress. A general council of the 
clergy was called : this was the famous council of 
Trent, which was held in different sessions during 
eighteen years for the purpose of establishing popery 
in greater splendor and preventing the Reformation. 
The friends of the Reformation were anathematized, 
and excommunicated, and the life of Luther was 



498 Rivers of Protestant Blood. 

often in danger, though at last he died on the bed 
of peace. From time to time innumerable schemes 
were suggested to overthrow the Reformed Church, 
and wars were set on foot for the purpose. The In- 
quisition, which was established in the twelfth cen- 
tury, was now more effectually set to work. Terrible 
persecutions were carried on in different parts of 
Germany, and even in Bohemia, which continued 
about thirty years, and the blood of the saints was 
said to flow like rivers of water. The countries of 
Poland, Lithuania and Hungary were in a similar 
manner deluged with Protestant blood. The 
" Mother of harlots " was " drunk with the blood of the 
saints" 

We shall present just a bird's-eye view of the 
bloody work of the Popes of Rome during the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries. Let us begin 
with France. After the grossest injustice and the 
most barbarous cruelties had been exercised towards 
the French Protestants — called Huguenots — there 
was a most violent persecution of them in 1572, in 
the reign of Charles IX., and especially in what is 
known throughout the world as the Massacre of St. 
Bartholomew in Paris, on the 24th of August of that 
year. Many of the leading Protestants had been 
invited to Paris, under a solemn oath of safety, upon 
occasion of the marriage of the King of Navarre 
with the sister of the French King. The queen- 
dowager of Navarre, however, a zealous Protestant, 
was poisoned by a pair of gloves before the marriage 
was solemnized. Admiral Coligny, who was looked 



Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 499 

upon as the leader of the Huguenots, was basely 
murdered in his own house and then thrown out of 
the window, to gratify the malice of the Duke of 
Guise ; his head was afterwards cut off and sent to 
the King and queen-mother, and his body, after a 
thousand indignities offered to it, was hung by the 
feet on a gibbet. After this the murderers ravaged 
the whole city of Paris, and butchered in three days 
about ten thousand lords, gentlemen, presidents and 
people of all ranks. A horrible spectacle was pre- 
sented, say the historians of that time, when the 
very streets and passages resounded with the noise 
of those who had met together for murder and 
plunder; the groans of those who were dying, and 
the shrieks of those who were just going to be but- 
chered were everywhere heard ; the bodies of the 
slain were thrown out of the windows ; the courts 
and chambers of the houses were filled with them ; 
the dead bodies of others were dragged through the 
streets; their blood ran through the channels in 
such plenty that torrents seemed to empty them- 
selves in the river : in a word, an innumerable mul- 
titude of men, women with child, maidens and 
children, were all involved in one common destruc- 
tion; and the gates and entrances of the King's 
palace were smeared with blood. From the city of 
Paris the massacre spread throughout the whole 
kingdom. In the city of Meaux they threw about 
two hundred into jail; and after they had ravished 
and killed a great number of women, and plundered 
the houses of the Protestants, they executed their 



500 The Pope Delighted with the Slaughter. 

fury on those they had imprisoned, and calling 
them one by one, they were killed, " like sheep in 
the market." In Orleans they murdered above five 
hundred men, women and children, and enriched 
themselves with the spoil. The same cruelties were 
practiced at Angers, Troyes, Bourges, La Charite, 
and especially at Lyons, where they cruelly mur- 
dered more than eight hundred Protestants — child- 
ren hanging on their parents' necks, and parents 
embracing their children. Ropes were thrown about 
their necks and they were dragged through the 
streets^ and then, half dead, and others dead, they 
were throw r n into the river. The number of those 
who were murdered in that horrible massacre are 
variously estimated at from seventy thousand to one 
hundred thousand. 

The King and his infamous mother gazed with 
delight on the heaps of the slain that filled the 
royal court, and the King went to see the corpse of 
the noble Coligny, and remarked that " the smell of 
a dead enemy is agreeable" His majesty went to 
Mass and returned thanks to God for the glorious 
victory over the heretics. When the news of the 
wholesale butchery reached Rome the Pope and his 
cardinals were almost beside themselves with joy^ 
and the event was celebrated by the ringing of 
bells, the booming of artillery, priestly processions, 
the Te Deum, and every expression of delight. The 
Pope, not satisfied with such temporal demonstra- 
tions, caused a medal to be struck to be a permanent 
commemoration of the event. 



Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 501 

But all their persecutions were far exceeded in 
cruelty by those which took place in the time of 
Louis XIV. after the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes in 1685. This Edict had secured certain 
privileges to the Protestants ; but at the instigation 
of the bishops, Louis revoked this Edict, and now 
the fiercest persecution broke forth. One of the 
most terrible and shameful modes of inflicting 
punishment on the unoffending Huguenots was by 
means of the dragonades, or dragooning. Soldiers, 
and dragoons, were quartered on the Huguenots, and 
"there w T as no wickedness," says Mr. Quick, in his 
Synodicon, u though ever so horrid, which they did 
not put in practice to compel the people to change 
their religion." The brutal soldiers, troopers and 
dragoons, w r ent into the houses of the Protestants, 
where they defaced and destroyed the furniture, 
broke their looking glasses, and sold what they 
could not destroy; and thus in a few days the 
Protestants were stripped of five millions of dollars. 
They turned the dining rooms of the gentry into 
stables for their horses, and treated the owners with 
the most barbarous cruelty, striking them, and not 
permitting them to eat or drink. When they saw the 
blood and sweat run down their faces they dashed 
water on them, and putting kettle-drums upon their 
heads they made a continual din upon them, till 
these unhappy people lost their senses. At Negre- 
plisse, they hung up Isaac Favin, a Protestant 
citizen of that place, and tormented him a whole 
night by pinching, and tearing off his flesh with 



502 Horrors of the Dragonades. 

pincers. They made a great fire round about a boy 
twelve years old, who, with eyes and hands lifted 
up to heaven, cried out, " My God, help me ! " and 
when they found the youth resolved to die rather 
than renounce his religion, they snatched him from 
the fire after being severely burned. In several 
places the soldiers applied red-hot irons to the feet 
of men, and to the breasts of women. At Nantes 
they hung up several women and maids by their 
feet, and others by their arm-pits, and thus exposed 
them to public view, stark naked. They bound 
nursing mothers to posts, and let sucking infants lie 
languishing in their sight for several days and 
nights, crying, and gasping for life. Amid a thou- 
sand hideous cries, they hung up men and women 
by their hair, and some by their feet, on hooks in 
chimneys, and smoked them with wisps of smoulder- 
ing hay until they were suffocated. They tied some 
under their arms with ropes, and plunged them 
again and again into wells ; they found others, put 
them to the torture, and with a funnel filled them 
with wine until they were intoxicated, and then made 
them say they consented to be Catholics. They 
stripped them naked, and after a thousand insults 
and indignities, stuck them with pins and needles 
from head to foot. In some places they tied fathers 
and husbands to bed posts, and before their eyes 
ravished their wives and daughters with impunity. 
They blew up men and women with bellows till 
they burst them. 

With these scenes of desolation, and cruelty, and 



The Irish Massacre of 16 4.1. 503 

horror, the popish clergy feasted their eyes, and 
made only matter of laughter and sport of them. 

The Irish Massacre of 1641 furnishes us with 
another fearful illustration and confirmation of the 
fact that the Romish Church is truly the " Mother 
of harlots, drunk with the blood of the saints." The 
following facts are from the statements of Sir John 
Temple, Master of the Rolls, and one of the royal 
Privy-Council in Ireland, and who writes from his 
own knowledge and observation. No detailed 
account can here be given, as this volume is already 
larger than was intended. 

" Roger Moore, one of the prime conspirators, 
told Master Coley, then prisoner with him, 'that the 
plot had been in framing several years, and should 
have been executed several times but they were 
hindered.' By letters sent from Rome to Sir Philip 
O'Neale and the Lord MacGuire, which were inter- 
cepted and brought to the Lord Parsons, though the 
friar that wrote them doth not express any certain 
knowledge of this very plot, yet this much appears 
to them, that they had long desired to hear of the 
rising of the Irish ; that the news of Sir Phelim 
O'Neale's taking arms was very acceptable to the 
Pope and his two cardinal nephews, assuring him 
of all assistance from thence," etc. " The Lords and 
Commons of this present parliament being adver- 
tised of the dangerous conspiracy and rebellion in 
Ireland, by the treacherous and wicked instigation 
of the priests and Jesuits for the bloody massacre and 
destruction of all the Protestants living there," etc. 



504 Massacre Instigated by Priests. 

" Edward Deane, of Ocram, in the county of 
.Wicklow, tanner, deposeth, 'That the said rebels 
burnt two protest ant Bibles, and then said that it was 
hell fire that burnt : ' 

" John KerdifFe, clerk of the county of Tyrone,, 
deposeth, ' That Friar Malone, of Skerries, did take 
the poor men's Bibles which he found in the boat, 
and cut them in pieces, and cast them into the fire 
with these words, that he would deal in like manner 
with all Protestant and Puritan Bibles.' 

" Adam Clover, of Slonosie, in the county of 
Cavan, duly sworn, deposeth, ' That James O'Rely, 
Hugh Brady, and other rebels, did often take into 
their hands the Protestant Bibles, and wetting them 
in the dirty water, did five or six several times 
dash the same in the face of this deponent, saying, 
etc. That dragging many Protestants by the hair 
of their heads, and in other cruel manner, into the 
Church, they there stripped, robbed, whipped, and 
most cruelly used them, saying, If you come to- 
morrow you shall hear the like sermon/ 

" The people being now set at liberty from the 
restraints of conscience, and prepossessed by their 
priests with a belief that it was lawful for them to 
rise up and destroy all the Protestants, who they 
told them were worse than dogs ; that they were 
devils, and served the devil; assuring them that 
the killing of such was a meritorious act, as well as 
a preventive againt the pains of purgatory, etc. 

a John Parry, of Druermosh, in the county of 
Armagh, deposeth, ' That O'Cullan, a priest, told his 



Unspeakable Barbarities, 505 

auditors at mass, that the bodies of such as died in 
this quarrel should not be cold before their souls 
should ascend up into heaven, and that they should 
be free from the pangs of purgatory." 

The writer hesitates to quote the statements of 
Sir John Temple, as many of the facts sworn to by 
most respectable, and reliable witnesses seem to be 
too shocking and revolting for belief. But as his 
book is in print, and has been read by many thou- 
sands of people, I will venture to give only the 
facts that are given on less than two pages of his 
report, as his book, opened at random, now lies 
before me. 

" Margaret Fermeny, in the county of Fermanagh, 
deposeth, ' That the rebels bound her and her 
husband's hands behind them, to make them con- 
fess their money ; and dragged them up and down 
by a rope ; and cut his throat in her own sight with 
a skain, having first knocked him down, and 
stripped him ; and that being an aged woman of 
seventy-five years old, as she came up afterwards to 
Dublin, she was stripped by the Irish seven times 
in one day, the rebels telling her to go and look 
to her God, and bid him give her clothes. 

" Edward Wilson, of the county of Monaghan, 
deposeth, 'That among other cruelties used by the 
rebels to the English, they hung up some by the 
arms, and then hacked them with their swords to 
see how many blows they could endure before they 
died. Some they ripped up, and then left them 
with their bowels hanging out. Anne, the wife of 



506 li The Only True Church." 

Merwin Madesley, late of city of Kilkenny, gent, 
sworn and examined, deposeth, that some of the 
rebels in Kilkenny aforesaid, struck and beat a 
poor English woman until she was forced into a 
ditch where she died ; those barbarous rebels having 
first ripped up her child, of about six years of age/ 
" Owen Frankland, of the city of Dublin, deposeth, 
1 That Michael Garry told this deponent, that there 
was a Scotchman that, being driven by the rebels 
out of the Newry, and knocked on the head by the 
Irish, recovered himself and came again into the 
town, naked ; whereupon the rebels took him and 
his wife out of the town, cut him all to pieces, and 
murdered his wife, though great w T ith child.' But 
this horrible cruelty was principally reserved by 
these inhuman monsters for women, whose sex they 
neither pitied nor spared, hanging up several women, 
many of them pregnant, whom they inhumanly 
mutilated, a course they ordinarily took with such 
as they found in that condition. At Ballincolough, 
within four miles of the city of Rosse, in April, 1642, 
John Stone, of the Graige, his son, two sons-in-law, 
and his tw T o daughters were hanged: one of his 
daughters being then pregnant, they treated her in 
such a barbarous manner as is not fit to be men- 
tioned. " And sometimes they gave their children 
to swine. " Philip Taylor, late of Portnedown, de- 
poseth, ( That the rebels killed a dyer's wife, of 
Rossetrever, at the Newry, and ripped her up, she 
being pregnant, with two children, and threw her 
and her children into a ditch ; and that he, this de- 



Butcher Alva in the Netherlands. 507 

ponent, drove away swine from eating one of her 
children." But we can go no further with this hor- 
rible recital, for things more shocking still are 
related by the score. One of the chief pleasures of 
the papists was to strip Protestant women of all 
their clothing and leave them, young and old, to 
perish from cold and exposure. They even taught 
their children to strip and kill the children of Pro- 
testants, and to dash out their brains against the 
stones. Many wives and young virgins were abused 
in sight of their nearest relatives. It is estimated 
that one hundred and fifty-four thousand Protest- 
ants perished in this massacre. One Irish woman 
is credited with the murder of forty-five Protest- 
ants — all for the glory of the Church. 

When the inhabitants of the Netherlands, who 
had been accustomed to freedom, revolted against 
the tyranny of Spain, and especially against the 
hated Inquisition, the Duke of Alva's counsel was 
to suppress the insurrection forcibly and with rigor. 
The king accordingly committed the matter to his 
hands and sent him to the Netherlands, in 1567, 
with unlimited power and a large military force. 
His first step was to establish what was called " the 
bloody council," in which he himself at first pre- 
sided, and over which he afterwards appointed Don 
Juan de Vargas — a man almost as cruel and blood- 
thirsty as himself. This "bloody council" con- 
demned all, without distinction, whose opinions 
seemed to be at all dubious, or whose wealth excited 
his cupidity. This man Alva was like an incarnate 



508 A Cruel Church has Cruel Agents. 

fiend, and swept over the country like a destroying 
pestilence, so great was his delight in causing blood 
to flow T , and hearts to break. The present and the 
absent, the living and the dead, were subjected alike 
to trial, and their property confiscated to the Coun- 
cil. So greatly was this furious tyrant hated by the 
people that above 100,000 of them abandoned their 
native country, many merchants and mechanics 
going to England. This inhuman monster boasted 
that he had put to death 18,000 people. 

Alva was just the man for the Pope, who expressed 
his satisfaction with Alva's bloody work by present- 
ing him with a consecrated sword and hat, as de- 
fender of the Holy Church. "Drunk with the blood 
of the saints" It is estimated that one hundred 
thousand died under the hand of the executioner. 
Here, however, Satan and his agents failed of their 
purpose; for in the issue great part of the Nether- 
lands shook off the Spanish yoke, and elected them- 
selves into a separate and independent state, which 
has ever since been considered as one of the principal 
Protestant countries of the world. 

Careful writers of English history inform us that 
during the five years during which " Bloody Mary n 
occupied the English throne, two hundred and eighty- 
eight persons were burnt alive by her order for the 
crime of heresy. She was proclaimed Queen on the 
17th of July, 1553, and it was not till the beginning 
of 1555 that the venerable John Rogers, the proto- 
martyr of the Marian persecution, sealed the truth 
with his blood by being burnt alive at Smithfield. 



Bloody Queen Mary. 509 

It was by order of this bigoted and wicked queen 
that Bishops Latimer and Ridley, and Archbishop 
Oranmer suffered martyrdom. The murder of those 
godly and useful ministers of Christ reflects eternal 
disgrace and shame on the Roman Catholic church, 
as well as on the memory of the poor, deluded 
Queen of England. 

The last of these bloody sacrifices to the papal 
Moloch was made on the 10th of November, only 
one week previous to the death of Queen Mary, in 
the burning of three men and two women, at Can- 
terbury, for denying transubstantiation and the 
worship of images. The names of this last company 
of victims who brought up the noble army of martyrs 
under this persecution were John Corneford, John 
Hurst, Christopher Brown, Alice Snoth and Cathe- 
rine Tinley. The last was an aged and helpless 
woman, whose years and debility, one would have 
thought, might awaken pity even in the breast of a 
savage. But popish bigotry knows no pity ; and the 
feeble and withered body of the aged saint was con- 
sumed to ashes in the torturing flames. One week 
after, Mary died, and England was happy. 

Great was the sorrow and disappointment of that 
bloody persecutor and promoter of the Inquisition, 
Pope Paul IV., at hearing of the death of his " faithful 
daughter," Mary, and the accession of her Protestant 
sister, Elizabeth, to the throne of England. In 
answer to the ambassador sent to the court of Rome, 
in common with the other European courts, the 
Pope replied in a haughty style, " That England 



510 Queen Elizabeth Cxirsed by the Pope. 

was held in fee of the Apostolic^See. . . . That 
it was great boldness in her to assume the crown 
without his consent ; for which, in reason, she de- 
served no favor at his hands; yet, if she would 
renounce her pretensions, and refer herself wholly to 
him, he would show a fatherly affection towards, 
and do everything for her that he could, consistently 
with the dignity of the Apostolic See J 9 

As Elizabeth showed no disposition to " resign her 
pretensions " to the British throne, she was excom- 
municated a few years afterward, and deposed by pope 
Pius V., and her subjects absolved from their alle- 
giance and forbidden to obey her, under penalty of 
the Pope's anathema ! Of course, the loss of Eng- 
land was a hard blow for the Pope, and he deter- 
mined to do his utmost to bring the British realm 
again under his dominion. For this purpose King 
Philip of Spain, a most bigoted son of the church, 
was to invade and crush England with force of arms. 
In order to accomplish this holy purpose, a great 
navy was provided, which the Spaniards proudly 
called " The Invincible Armada. 99 The principal 
motive for this enterprise was the desire to strike a 
decisive blow at the Protestant faith, of which Eng- 
land was then the bulwark. For many months the 
whole energies of the Spanish nation had been 
directed toward the building and equipment of the 
requisite ships. The devout Christian has delighted 
to perceive in the history of this " Invincible Ar- 
mada 99 a striking evidence of that gracious Provi- 
dence, which has so often interposed for the 



The Invincible Armada. 511 

protection and defence of Old England. In 1587 
everything was nearly ready ; but the sailing of the 
expedition was delayed for a year by Drake, who 
made a bold dash into the harbor of Cadiz, and 
destroyed nearly a hundred ships, with immense 
stores of provisions. A further delay was caused by 
the sudden death of the Marquis of Santa Cruz, who 
had been originally entrusted with the chief com- 
mand. His loss was a serious blow to the Spanish 
cause, for he was an experienced sailor. The Duke 
of Medina Sidonia, a man almost entirely ignorant 
of naval affairs, was then made admiral. All pre- 
parations being at length completed, the great fleet 
sailed from Lisbon on the 29th of May, 1588. It 
consisted of 130 large vessels, and carried about 
20,000 soldiers, 8460 sailors, besides slaves, as rowers, 
and 2431 cannon. Their destination was the coast 
of Flanders, where Alexander Farnese, prince of 
Parma, was lying with about 35,000 men and a 
flotilla of boats. This force was to be landed on the 
Isle of Thanet, at the mouth of the Thames, under 
the 'protection of the Armada, which would be able 
to keep the channel perfectly clear. Another body 
of troops was then to be landed further north ; and 
it had been hoped, at one time, that the Duke of 
Guise would effect a diversion by landing a force on 
the west coast. These plans, however, were con- 
siderably deranged by the length of time occupied 
in preparing the expedition, and by the further 
delays encountered. For the fleet had scarcely 
sailed from Lisbon when it was overtaken by a 



512 England to be Conquered by Rome. 

severe storm, which shattered several of the ships, 
and compelled them to put in for repairs at Corunna. 
It was the 22d of July before they finally sailed from 
Spain. England, meanwhile, had not been idle. 
When the news arrived that the great expedition 
was really about to set out, the most intense enthu- 
siasm took possession of the people, who gladly 
furnished ships and stores, and raised volunteer 
bands for coast defence. The command of the army 
was given to the Earl of Leicester, who took his post, 
with about 16,000 men, at Tilbury, to oppose the 
landing of Parma. About 45,000 military were 
assembled around the Queen to protect her person. 
The royal navy, which consisted of about thirty 
ships, was at once put in order, and gradually in- 
creased by the addition of merchantmen and priva- 
teers, to about 180 vessels. These carried about 
18,000 sailors, but they had not half the weight of 
the Spanish artillery, and they were scantily sup- 
plied with ammunition and provisions. The ships, 
however, those of the Queen in particular, were in 
splendid order, and the sailors were the finest in 
England. The lord high admiral was Lord Howard, 
of Effingham, who had under him Drake, Hawkins, 
Frobisher, and others, the most celebrated mariners 
of the age. He took his station with the main body 
of the ships at Plymouth, and another squadron 
under Lord Seymour cruised off Dunkirk, com- 
manding the straits, and blockading the Prince of 
Parma. Meantime news was brought to England 
that the Armada had encountered severe storms, 



England's Hearts of Oak. 513 

and that the expedition was given up. So much 
faith was put in this report that several of the ships 
began to discharge their crews. Howard, however, 
sailed down towards Corunna, and discovered that 
the report had no foundation. 

On the 29th of July the fleet was discovered enter- 
ing the channel, and the beacon-lights along the 
shore gave warning to England that the dreaded 
enemy was at hand. That evening Howard's ships 
were moored so as to be able to slip out of Plymouth 
Sound at a moment's notice. On the following day 
the Armada was seen standing up the English 
Channel in the form of a crescent, seven miles long 
and numbering 150 ships. They passed Plymouth 
towards evening, and during the night the English 
fleet sailed out of the Sound and took up a position 
to windward. On the following day the action 
began by the Duke of Medina Sidonia attempting 
to close and bring on a general engagement. But 
he found this to be impossible ; the English ships, 
light, and admirably handled, sailed so swiftly and 
were manoeuvred with such dexterity that it was 
out of his pow T er to inflict any injury upon them. 
Their fire also was rapid and deadly, while the 
Spanish guns were worked slowly, and generally 
sent the shot far over the English ships. Dismayed 
at their want of success, the Spanish fleet stood off 
up the Channel, closely pursued by the English. 
Through all the next week the same tactics were 
pursued ; the English hovering on the rear of the 
Armada, harassed and weakened it without coming 
to a close engagement. At length, on the 6th of 



514 Not Quite " Invincible." 

August, Medina Sidonia cast anchor in the roads of 
Calais, and sent messengers to the Prince of Parma, 
asking him for ammunition and light vessels, and 
suggesting that he should now attempt his landing 
on the coast of England. But he declared that it 
was impossible to cross the Channel while the Eng- 
lish fleet was on the sea ; that he had no light ships, 
and that the state of the weather prevented him 
from sending such ammunition as he could spare. 
Lord Howard had now been joined by Seymour's 
squadron and by many private ships ; but he and 
the other commanders were in the deepest anxiety. 
They were almost destitute of provisions and powder, 
and did not yet know what injury they had inflicted 
on the Armada, which, after all their endeavors, 
seemed to have reached its destination. At last it 
was resolved to drive the Spanish fleet out into the 
open sea, and to effect this by means of fire-ships. 
Eight ships were selected and filled with combus- 
tibles, their rigging was smeared with pitch, and on 
the night of the 7th of August they were drifted 
down with the tide and set on fire. The Spaniards, 
in great alarm, immediately cut their cables and 
cleared off from the shore. Next morning Drake 
pursued them, while Howard remained for some 
time to attack a galleon that had gone ashore during 
the night. The Spanish fleet was scattered over a 
large space off Gravellines, and Drake at once began 
the action, driving them together in a confused mass 
by his rapid firing and swift manoeuvering, and 
forcing the whole towards the coast of Flanders. 
Had his ammunition held out, he might have com- 



The Almighty Takes a Hand. 515 

pleted the ruin by driving them on shore. As it 
was, the injury inflicted by this one day's fighting 
was enormous. Nearly four thousand men were 
killed and many of the ships were disabled, and the 
hopes of the Spaniards were broken. Their courage 
completely deserted them ; and next day, when a 
council of war was held, it was resolved to try the 
perilous voyage to Spain by the North Sea and 
Pentland Firth, rather than again face Drake and 
the English fleet. The whole fleet, still numbering 
one hundred and twenty ships, stood off accordingly 
towards the North Sea. Drake and Howard pur- 
sued for some days, till want of provisions compelled 
them to return. But the weather proved a suffi- 
ciently formidable enemy to the unhappy Spaniards. 
The continuous violent gales which accompanied 
them along their route by the north of Scotland 
and the wild Irish coast completely shattered their 
unseaworthy vessels. The shores were strewn with 
wrecks, and many hundreds of unfortunates who 
were saved from the sea were slain by the Irish. 
Constant sickness had decimated the troops, and 
when at length, in September and October, fifty -four 
shattered vessels reached Spain, they conveyed only 
nine or ten thousand men, and these were in a 
pitiable state from sickness and want. (Ency. Brit. 
For the facts presented in this chapter see Elliot, 
Romanism ; Jones' Church History ; Foxe's Book of 
Martyrs ; Dowling's Romanism, etc.) 

Enough has been said to prove that " the woman 
drunk with the blood of the saints" is the Church of 
Rome. And " the half has not been told." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Shall the Potomac or the Tiber Rule Us ? 

We have seen that Romanists claim that their 
church is of apostolic origin; that all their popes 
were infallible, and that they are the divinely ap- 
pointed vicegerents of God himself; that God com- 
municates his will to men through them ; that they 
stand among men as God himself, and that they 
are to be universally obeyed, as God is to be obeyed. 
The foregoing pages prove conclusively that such 
claims are false, presumptuous, impossible, and blas- 
phemous. We have traced the Papacy, as an ob- 
jective system, back to Constantine; but the Papacy 
has a subjective force, or power, and she claims that 
this subjective power is the Holy Spirit of God. But 
we have shown that the Papacy is a system of lying 
deception, robbery, hypocrisy, murder, and blas- 
phemy ; and therefore it cannot be from God. If not 
from God, then from whence does it derive its in- 
spiring, and actuating spirit, and force? This ques- 
tion is of very great importance, and its importance 
demands that the answer to it shall be plain, posi- 
tive, and authoritative. 

Many very excellent Christians — there is reason 
to believe — will find fault with the strong language 
often used by the present writer, in these pages. 
Christian charity is a beautiful thing, and pleasing 
to God ; but that is a false charity, and a ruinous 
liberality, that will apologize for sin, and whitewash 

516 



The True Origin of Papacy. 517 

iniquity, and especially when that iniquity is organ- 
ized into a vast and compact system of wrong, the 
object of which is to destroy the church of Christ as 
instituted by himself, and whose whole tendency is 
to degrade human society, and destroy the souls of 
men. All this is exactly true of the Roman Catho- 
lic Church. This has been abundantly proven, over 
and over again. In Mrs. Margaret L. Shepherd's 
book — from which we have quoted — she says : 
il Where did I learn all the evil they accuse me of, 
but from a system Born in Hell, — Nurtured in 
Hell ?" Now there are many who pride themselves 
on their liberality, and charity, who express them- 
selves as horrified at such language, and declare it 
to be " illiberal/' " unchristian," and " wicked," — 
not knowing that her words expressed the exact 
truth as taught in the holy Scriptures, a fact prob- 
ably unknown to Mrs. Shepherd herself. God him- 
self declares that the Papacy was " born in hell, — nur- 
tured in hell." Here is the proof. In Revelation 
xii : 3, it is said : "And behold a great red dragon 
having seven heads and ten horns ; and seven crowns 
upon his heads " — Rome ! In the 9th verse we are 
told, distinctly that the red dragon is the devil; — 
" And the great dragon was cast out ; that old ser- 
pent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the 
whole world " — through the Church of Rome. In the 
13th verse it is said : "And when the dragon saw 
that he was cast out unto the earth he persecuted 
the woman which brought forth the man child." 
" The woman " is Christ's Church, whom the Devil 



518 Ascended Out of the Bottomless Pit. 

persecutes through the Church of Rome. In chapter 
xvii : 8, it is said : " The beast that thou sawest was 
and is not, and yet is ; shall ascend Out of the 
Bottomless Pit, and go into perdition." "Was" 
— Pagan Rome ; " and is not " — for a time it looked 
as if Pagan Rome had ceased to be ; " and yet is " 
— the same old Pagan Rome revived in another 
form, — that of Papal Rome ! At this hour Papal 
Rome is the old despotic, bloody, Pagan Rome, 
ruling in another form — the Papacy. And both 
" ascended out of the bottomless pit " — that is, Hell. 
Here then the Word of God plainly declares that 
the Church of Rome was born in hell ! Surely it is an 
awful thing to say ! But it is God himself who says 
it ! And who are we, that we dare to express sym- 
pathy for, or extend charity towards, a system that 
God hates, and has cursed? But if God had not 
said it, surely the history of the Roman Catholic 
Church as written by a hundred capable, and truth- 
ful men, most plainly teaches that she was born 
in hell, and "ascended out of the bottomless pit." 
"And goeth into perdition." 

What, according to the Word of God, is the actual 
spiritual condition and outlook of the great mass of 
the Roman Catholic people ? The Romish priests 
proclaim to the world, and teach their people that 
their Church is the only true Church of Christ, 
" out of which there is no salvation." The very oppo- 
site of this is taught in the Holy Scriptures, by God 
himself. That some Roman Catholics are Christians 
— and probably very few comparatively — is certain, 



" Come Out of Her," My People. 519 

from the fact that God says to some in that commu- 
nion : "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not 
partakers of her sins ; and that ye receive not of her 
plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, 
and the Lord hath remembered her iniquities." 
(Rev. 18 : 4, 5.) The Scriptures, however, teach that 
the great mass of the Roman Catholics are lost and 
doomed to " perdition." Awful as this statement is, 
it is God's Word, and we dare not gainsay it. 

When the Scriptures speak of the Romish Church 
as the beast, it speaks of the great body of the people 
— bishops, priests, and people that constitute that 
horrible communion ; and of this vast body it de- 
clares that they shall "go into perdition" (verse 8.) 
In chapter xvi: 9,10,11, are these very solemn 
and significant words : c< If any man shall worship 
the beast and his image, or receive his mark on his 
forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the 
wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out with- 
out mixture into the cup of his indignation ; and he 
shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the 
presence of the hoh r angels, and in the presence 
of the Lamb ; and the smoke of their torment as- 
cendeth up forever and ever: and they have no 
rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his 
image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his 
name." 

Every Roman Catholic has " the mark of the 
beast," in the habit of crossing himself, and in other 
ways. It may be very charitable to say, " Poor souls, 
they know no better ; they have been trained and 



520 They Prefer Lies to Truth. 

educated to believe as they do, and God will not 
hold them accountable." But God does not say so. 
He saj^s something vastly different. The fact is the 
Roman Catholic people of this country wilfully 
close their eyes and ears to the truth. In this land 
certainly God has given all men abundant opportu- 
nities for knowing the saving truths of the GospeL 
Bibles are plenty; Gospel churches are on every 
hand ; intelligent Protestant Christians are willing 
to point out to any Romanist the simple gospel way 
of salvation ; but they will not come to the light, nor 
permit the light of truth to enter their minds. 
Aside from all the external facilities for knowing 
the truth, God has put into the minds, and even 
into the bodies of men, teachers, of whose teaching 
and assistance the Romanist stubbornly refuses to 
avail himself. 

Take, for example, the Romanist's wafer god. The 
priest tells him that the little wafer is no longer 
a wafer after the words of so-called " consecration " 
have been uttered over it, and that the wafer is 
suddenly and entirely changed into the literal, liv- 
ing, breathing body and soul and divinity of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Not only does the person who 
believes this lie of the priest, do violence to his own 
intelligence, and common sense ; not only does he 
insult the noblest faculties and powers of his man- 
hood, but he gives the lie to his bodily senses. 
These bodily senses — sight, taste, touch, smell, etc., 
— are given to us to save us from being deceived. 
They are, so to speak, God's own vicegerents in 



Their God a Bit of Dough. 521 

the human body. They are in the body to enable 
us to distinguish one thing from another — form, size r 
color, hardness, etc. The priest, wicked man that 
he is, seeks to deceive and impose on the man by 
assuring him that the little wafer he has just swal- 
lowed, is actually and truly the Lord Jesus Christ — 
body, flesh, bones, life, soul, divinity — and he, like a 
brutal cannibal, has swallowed not only a w r hole 
man, but the living Son of the living God I And 
the degraded and superstitious Papist prefers to be- 
lieve the w T icked and lying priest in preference to 
the holy God, who speaks to him through his men- 
tal and bodily instincts. As the wafer is before 
him, his sense of sight declares to him that it is not a 
human body, but a simple wafer. His sense of 
touch; his sense of smell ; his sense of taste — all these 
witnesses in his own bodj^ declare it to be a wafer — 
a bit of baked dough — and yet the disgusting wretch 
insults his Maker by kneeling down and worship- 
ping the bit of dough, and then insisting that he 
has swallowed his Creator ! Horrible ! Now let 
us see what Almighty God has to say about this 
inexcusable perversity. He has this to say : " Be- 
cause they received not the love of the truth that 
they might be saved. . . . God shall send them 
strong delusion; that they should believe a lie; 
that they all might be damned who believe not the 
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 
2 : 10, etc.) I scarcely know of a more awful state- 
ment in the Bible than this. Men often say, — "0, it 
doesn't matter what a man believes, if he is only sin- 



522 Romanists are a Lost People. 

cereP God says something very different from this. 
He declares that when men trifle with the truth, 
and prefer to believe falsehoods, he will in his anger 
leave them to actually " believe a lie; " he shall sin- 
cerely believe it, and " be damned " for it. This is 
the condition of the Romanists to-day. They are 
doomed to eternal "perdition ! " 

The condition and character of the great mass of 
the Roman Catholics present conclusive evidence 
that they are not Christians. They all practice the 
most wicked idolatry, and, even in the enlightened 
Protestant countries, the crimes committed by the 
Romanists are out of all proportion to their num- 
bers, and the more thoroughly they are under the 
influence and control of the Priests the worse they 
are ; showing that the very tendency of the Romish 
system is to make criminals instead of Christians. 
Dr. De Sanctis, who is a most capable and truthful 
witness, says : " But I take for an example Rome, 
the city which boasts to be the centre of religion, 
the seat of the pretended Vicar of Jesus Christ, the 
city w T here, more than in any other place, confession 
is largely practiced. I like to take Rome as an 
example, because of that city I speak with certain 
knowledge. That city was my native place, and 
I discharged in it for fifteen years the ministry of 
hearing confession : I fulfilled for eight years the 
duties of a parish priest. These facts give me suffi- 
cient knowledge to speak with certainty. 

" Rome is the city that surpasses all the other 
cities of Italy in immorality. But perhaps the 



Rome the Wickedest City in Italy. 523 

blame ought to be imputed to the Roman people ? 
No. The Roman people, noble and generous as 
their forefathers, would be the people of the greatest 
virtue, if it were educated in the Gospel. But all 
the fine qualities of that people are stifled by the 
teachings of its church, and the people are brutalized 
in guilt. Blasphemy against God is the predomi- 
nant vice of the people ; but the blasphemer con- 
fesses, departs absolved, and is no sooner out of the 
church than he blasphemes again; drunkenness, 
murder, theft, fraud, adultery, are crimes inces- 
santly repeated ; but whoever commits them con- 
fesses and believes himself absolved ; and immo- 
rality is not arrested, but by the facility of pardon 
at the cost of a few prayers, is committed again 
without scruple." He says . "Let statistics be ap- 
pealed to, and it will be seen that if Catholic crimi- 
nals are in ratio to the population as ten to a thou- 
sand, for instance, Protestant criminals are only 
one to a thousand." Not true piety toward God ; 
but ignorance, and crime, and moral degradation are 
the natural products of the Roman Catholic system, 
as attested by her entire history, and hy the present 
aspect of Roman Catholic countries. As now stated 
by De Sanctis, the nearer the people live to the 
infallible head of their church, the more ignorant, 
immoral and degraded they are. All of which 
tends to confirm the belief of the wisest and best 
men of all ages that the Romish Church is the Anti- 
christ of the Scriptures. 

Several of the ancient Fathers, as they are called, 



524 Important Witnesses. 

contended that the Little Horn of Daniel's 
prophecy was the predicted Antichrist. Cyril of 
Jerusalem, who flourished about the middle of the 
fourth century, speaking of Antichrist's coming in 
the latter times of the Roman Empire, says : " We 
teach these things not of our own invention, but 
having learned them out of the divine Scriptures, 
and especially out of the prophecy of Daniel, which 
was just now read ; even as Gabriel, the archangel,, 
interpreted, saying, ' The fourth beast shall be the 
fourth Kingdom upon earth, which shall exceed all 
the Kingdoms, but that this is the empire of the 
Romans, ecclesiastical interpreters have delivered. 7 "" 
Jerome, Theodoret, and Austin entertained the same 
view. But as they lived before the bishops of Rome, 
the Little Horn had swelled out into popes, and as 
prophecy can only be understood in the light of its 
own fulfilment, their views were not very distinct. 

In later times the identity of papal Rome with 
Antichrist was maintained by Luther, Melancthon,. 
Calvin, and all the Continental reformers ; by Lati- 
mer, Ridley, Cranmer, and all the British reformers;, 
by Sir Isaac Newton, Mede, Whiston, Bishop New- 
ton, Lowth, Daubuz, Vitringa, Bedell, and a host of 
other godly and distinguished interpreters of the 
Scriptures ; so that the present writer finds himself 
in most excellent company. 

It is a very interesting, and to not a few a very 
anxious, question as to what is to be the future of 
this " Man of sin," some believing that it is again to 
prevail over all the earth, and some go so far as to 



The Papacy is Doomed. 525 

predict that the Inquisition will j r et be set up in 
these United States. This is, no doubt, the hope 
and expectation of the Romanists themselves. The 
Pope and the whole hierarchy are at this moment 
putting forth their utmost efforts to subjugate this 
country, and bring it into subjection to the so-called 
Holy See. Whatever mischief that accursed Beast 
may accomplish, here or elsewhere, its ultimate 
destruction is clearly revealed in God's word, which 
says : 

" And after these things I saw another angel come 
down from heaven, having great power ; and the 
earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried 
mightily with a strong voice, saying, ' Babylon is 
fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of 
devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage 
of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations 
have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornica- 
tion, and the kings of the earth have committed 
fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth 
have waxed rich through the abundance of her deli- 
cacies.' And I heard another voice from heaven, 
saying, ( Come out of her, my people, that ye be not 
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, 
and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward 
her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her 
double according to her works : in the cup which 
she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she 
hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much 
torment and sorrow give her; for she saith in her 



526 Near the End of Her Tether. 

heart, ' I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see 
no sorrow.' Therefore shall her plagues come in 
one day, death, and mourning, and famine ; and she 
shall be utterly burned with fire ; for strong is the 
Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the 
earth who have committed fornication and lived 
deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament 
for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burn- 
ing, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, 
saying, l Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon, that 
mighty city ! for in one hour is thy judgment 
come.'" (Rev. xviii : 1-10. The whole chapter should 
be read carefully). 

The Scriptures give us some very interesting data 
from which w r e may know somew T here about the 
time when the power of the Papacy shall be broken. 
In 2 Thess. 2 : 8, Paul, speaking of " the Man of sin" 
— the church of Rome — says : " Then shall that 
Wicked — or wicked one — be revealed, w T hom the 
Lord shall consume w r ith the spirit of his mouth, and 
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." In 
Daniel vii : 25, mention is made of " a time, and 
times, and the dividing of time ;" that is a year ; two 
years; and half a year, or three years and a half; 
and the ancient Jewish j T ear, consisting of thirty 
days in a month, give 1260 days, and a prophetic 
day is a year. " I have appointed thee each day for 
a year," God said to Ezekiel (Chap. 4 : 6). In Reve- 
lation we read (Chap, xi : 3) : " And I will give 
power unto my two witnesses, and they shall 
prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score 



The 1260 Prophetic Years. 527 

days " — 1260 years. In the sixth verse of the follow- 
ing chapter we read : k ' And the woman fled into the 
wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, 
that they should feed her there a thousand two 
hundred and three score days " — 1260 years. And 
in the 14th verse we read that the woman — the true 
church of Christ — is nourished for " a time, and 
times, and half a time" — or 1260 years. So long: 
Antichrist, or the little horn, will continue ; but 
from what point of time the commencement of these 
1260 years is to be dated, is not easy to determine. 
Some students of prophecy suppose them to have 
begun in 606, when the pope assumed the title of 
Universal Bishop ; in that case the 1260 years ter- 
minated in 1866, w r hich there is no reason to believe. 
Others believe the 1260 years began at the time that 
the Papacy was established as a temporal power r 
which was near the close of the eighth century. If 
that is the true reckoning, then this dreadful and 
ruinous power has nearly a century more of life in 
which to blaspheme the Almighty, to curse the 
world, and ruin the souls of men. 

It is as Si political force, how r ever, that the Ameri- 
can nation has reason to be on its guard against this 
subtle and heartless foe. It has been abundantly 
shown in these pages that the church of Rome has 
publicly declared itself to be the enemy of modern 
progress — to freedom of thought; the liberty of 
speech, and the freedom of the press, as also against 
the separation of Church and State ; and thus would 
gladly turn the wheels of human progress back- 



528 Are We a Nation of Atheists ? 

ward, and, if it were possible, re-establish the state 
of things that existed in the dark ages. No longer 
ago than 1874 Lord Robert Montague, a member of 
the British Parliament, and a Roman Catholic, wrote 
a translation of a work from the pen of P. Franco, 
in which the relations between the church of Rome 
and secular governments were very fully discussed. 
In this translation Lord Montague is very free in 
giving his own views in regard to the matters dis- 
cussed. We have room only for a few brief quota- 
tions. He considers the present " spread of false 
principles " now prevailing in Protestant countries 
as chiefly due to two causes: "Modern civilization" 
and "freedom of conscience," or "the right of 
private judgment." He says, " Catholics certainly 
are intolerant, and so they ought to be," because " if 
a Catholic is not intolerant, he is either a hypocrite 
or else does not really believe what he professes." 
He insists that the temporal power must be subject 
to the spiritual ; " the civil authority, and its rights and 
powers, must be placed at the absolute disposal of the 
Church" This language is, surely, sufficiently ex- 
plicit; and is no less than an insulting demand that 
all free governments — and especially the govern- 
ment of the United States — shall disband, and sur- 
render all their rights, powers, and institutions to 
the Pope of Rome ! Lord Robert Montague further 
says : " A State that is free from the Church " (the 
Romish Church, of course), " is an atheistical State" 
(which is an unmitigated falsehood) — "it denotes a 
godless government and godless laws .... which 



An Intelligent {?) English Lord. 529 

knows nothing of any kind of religion, and which, there- 
fore, determines to do without God." 

It certainly seems that this book — " Popular 
Errors Concerning Politics and Religion " — must 
have been written exclusively for the eyes of 
Romanists ; for it seems incredible that an educated 
man should make such reckless statements for 
general reading, when all men know them to be 
utterly untrue. In this country, " which is free 
from the Church," this Romish writer sees " an 
atheistical State" ! This nation, with its millions of 
Bibles in the hands and homes of the people ; with 
its thousands and tens of thousands of Christian 
ministers; with its millions of youth in the Sunday 
Schools, and Christian Endeavor Societies, and 
Young Men's Christian Associations ; with its mil- 
lions of prayer meetings ; with its numerous chap- 
lains in the army and navy ; with its National and 
State legislative sessions opened with prayer ; with 
its innumerable Christian Churches; and with its 
vast religious literature falling on the homes of the 
people like the leaves of the forest — and this great 
Christian nation " is an atheistical State " ! It must 
be so; for it is affirmed by an English Roman 
Catholic Lord, who is a member of Parliament, and 
assists in making laws for the government of the 
" atheistical " British Empire ! 

" Let the form of government be a republic" says 
he, " and you will then endure the horrors of the 
Democracy of '89, or the Commune of 71 ; for a 
nation will assuredly plunge itself into misery as 



530 7s he a Knave or a Fool ? 



soon as it attempts to govern itself'' The following 
paragraph is most significant: "Thus it is that 
Catholics, in some countries, ask for libery of educa- 
tion, liberty of worship, liberty of speech, liberty of 
the press, etc.; not because these are good things, but 
because in those countries the compulsory educa- 
tion, the law for conformity of worship, the press 
law, etc., enforce what is far worse. In the Egyptian 
darkness of error, it is good to obtain a little 
struggling ray of light. It is better to be on a 
Cunard steamer than on a raft; but if the steamer 
is going down, a raft would be preferable. So it is 
relatively good, in a pagan or heretic country, to obtain 
liberty of worship, or religious liberty ; but that choice 
no more proves that it is absolutely good, and should 
be granted in Catholic countries also, than your getting 
on a raft in mid-ocean proves that every one, in all 
cases, should do so. Still less does it follow that, 
because liberty of worship is demanded in Protestant 
countries, therefore it should be granted in Catholic 
countries. To deny religious liberty would be con- 
tradictory of the principle of Protestantism, which is 
the right of private judgment. But the principle of 
Catholicism is repugnant to liberty of ivorship ; for the 
principle of Catholicism is that God has appointed 
an infallible teacher of faith and morals." This 
" infallible teacher," of course, is the infallible Pope ! 
It seems incredible that any man, unless he be an 
idiot or a lunatic, could deliberately declare that 
this country is " an atheistical nation," and that 
popish countries whose governments are under the 



Darkness Preferred to Light. 531 ' 

control of the Pope are superior to England and the 
United States ; and yet these statements are made by 
this Roman Catholic lord, and by hundreds of other 
educated Roman Catholics. This is the claim of the 
Pope, and all his cardinals and bishops ; and the 
explanation of this amazing perversity is to be 
found only in the statements of the holy Scriptures, 
which declare: " The god of this world (that is the 
devil) hath blinded the minds of them which believe 
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ 
should shine unto them." And the position taken by 
these men affords an illustration of the text already 
quoted from Paul, " For this cause God shall send 
them strong delusion, that they should Believe a 
Lie : that they all might be damned who believe 
not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness" 
" Speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having the conscience 
seared with a hot iron." We see again how perfectly 
Romish history is the fulfilment of the divine pro- 
phecies concerning the Antichrist. In his book 
(Popular Errors Concerning Politics and Religion) 
Lord Montague is not ashamed to make the menda- 
cious statement that "Protestantism has filled the world 
with ruins " /// 

The Jesuits — blasphemously calling themselves the 
" Society of Jesus " ! — came into existence soon after 
Luther's Reformation in Germany, and were organ- 
ized for the express purpose of antagonizing that 
Reformation and destroying Protestantism. This is 
the work in which they are engaged in this country 
and at this hour. They are the deadly enemies of 



532 A Venerable American Speaks. 

free institutions. They have been driven out of 
almost every nation, both Romish and Protestant, 
as pestiferous intermeddlers with government and 
law. The Hon. R. W. Thompson, ex-Secretary of 
the U. S. Navy, has recently published a most ad- 
mirable book, entitled " The Footprints of the 
Jesuits," from which we will quote a few brief para- 
graphs. The extensive reading of Mr. Thompson's 
book would greatly benefit our country. He says : 
" No fair-minded people questioned the right of 
Pope IX. to declare himself infallible, or that of 
others to concede it to him in matters purely spir- 
itual. Nor is this same right denied to Leo XIII. 
But when he extends his infallibility so far as to 
include authority over the fundamental principles 
of civil government, and thus seeks to imperil the 
fortunes of the modern progressive nations, where 
Church and State have been separated, it should not. 
be expected that those who share those fortunes in 
common will sanction his imperial assumption by 
direct affirmance, or by silent acquiescence. The 
age of "passive obedience" has passed, and is not 
likely to be revived, so long as the Reformation 
period shall continue to bear its rich, abundant 
fruits, like such as spring from the popular institu- 
tions of the United States. The fundamental prin- 
ciple upon which all such institutions rest is the 
separation of Church* and State; for without that 
there can be no freedom of religious belief, and no 
such development of the intellectual faculties as fits 
society for self-government. Every assault upon 



The Pope's Audacious Claim. 533 

this great fundamental principle must be resisted, no 
matter under what pretence it may be made or from 
what quarter it shall come. 

"We must not forget," says Mr. Thompson, "the 
claim of jurisdiction over the people of the United 
States which the Pope now makes by virtue of his 
assumed infallibility, and which has caused him to 
send Mgr. Satolli to this country — without diplo- 
matic recognition, and without our knowledge and 
consent — to instruct us that our form of government 
is heretical, and may for that reason be removed 
out of the papal pathway, like other heresies ; and 
that our public schools are nurseries of vice, because 
they do not also teach that Protestantism is heresy, 
w T iih the curse of God resting upon it. The Pro- 
testant people are, in the papal sense, excommuni- 
cated heretics, and their government is heretical, 
because it has separated the State from the Church. 
Consequently, the Jesuits maintain by their pecu- 
liarly subtle method of reasoning that both the 
government and the Protestant people of the United 
States ore within the circle of pontifical jurisdiction, 
and, therefore, that the Pope has the divine right, as 
the only infallible representative of God, to deal ivith 
this country according to his own discretion." He says : 
" We cannot, and must not consent to be included 
within the circle of any foreign jurisdiction, or 
within such spiritual jurisdiction as the papal 
doctrine of infallibility stretches out over the tem- 
poral affairs of all the nations. We cannot and 
must not allow the Stars and Stripes to be removed 



534 Want no Papal Flag in Washington. 

from the dome of our National Capitol and the papal 
flag, with its cross and mitre, and without a single 
star, to be floated in its place." And yet toward 
this all the efforts and plotting of the Hierarchy are 
being directed. They are assiduously teaching their 
people that this country belongs to the Pope, and 
that he is being robbed of his rights by the Pro- 
testants and by our Protestant government. Their 
people are being taught to believe that any efforts 
on their part to destroy the government of this 
nation will be highl} r meritorious in the sight of 
God, and that no oath is binding — not even the 
Naturalization oath — if it is in any way opposed to 
the interests of the Romish church. 

The Romanists boast that they have in this 
country an army of 700,000 men. They offered the 
government 100,000 soldiers to fight England in 
case of war resulting over the Venezuelan affair, as 
some thought likely, a few months ago. What are 
these 700,000 Romish soldiers going to do? What 
is the object and purpose of the Jesuits, who are at 
the bottom of all these menacing preparations? 
Lord Montague says : " Let the form of government 
be a Republic, and you will then endure the horrors 
of the Democracy of '89, or the Commune of '71." 
If such scenes are ever witnessed in this country, 
the Romanists will be the first aggressors. Romish 
editors threaten violence even now, and everything 
among Romanists is tending to this result. Nothing 
is too daring or cruel for the Jesuits to engage in, if 
it only promises to be advantageous to the Romish 



Everything Lovely for the Papacy. 535 

church. And to them the outlook is most promising. 
With a large Roman Catholic representation in 
Congress ; with the United States Senate, as shown 
by recent votes, almost wholly Romanized ; with 
Satolli, and Gibbons, and other dignitaries of the 
church so close to the centre of the government, and 
influencing legislation; with the departments in 
Washington crowded with Romanists; with the 
army and navy largely composed of slaves of the 
pope ; with the police of our cities chiefly composed 
of the Pope's own; with the secular and religious 
press largely under the spell of the great " mystery 
of iniquity ;" and with the Protestant ministry — with 
comparatively but few exceptions — either indifferent 
or apologetic ; and then added to all these advan- 
tages 700,000 armed men, inspired by bigotry, and 
sure of the Pope's blessing and priestly absolution — 
could there be a better time to strike a mighty blow 
for the rights of the unholy church and its infallible 
head? And who that remembers that there has 
been a St. Bartholomew's massacre, and an Irish 
massacre, can help asking : For what are Romanists 
arming and drilling throughout the length and 
breadth of this land ? 

One of the most discouraging things in view of 
the menacing aspects of the Church of Rome, is the 
apparent indifference — at least the reticence — of the 
Protestant Ministry. The present writer has been a 
pastor for more than forty years, and knows the 
temptations of the Protestant pastor to keep silent 
on this subject. From a large acquaintance with 



536 Responsibility of the Protestant Clergy. 

the Protestant ministry of all denominations, I know 
there is no better, no nobler, or more useful class of 
men in all the world than the great body of the 
Protestant ministry, and I respect and love them all, 
and it is with great respect and diffidence that I 
even venture to suggest that this general silence of 
Protestant pulpits may be far from pleasing to the 
Master. It would seem to be the solemn duty of the 
Protestant ministry, especially as the commissioned 
ambassadors of the true Christ, to keep constantly 
before the people the blasphemous teachings, the 
idolatrous practices, and the dangerous encroach- 
ments of the false Christ — the Antichrist of Rome ; 
and no love of ease, or fear of inconvenience, or loss 
to themselves should be permitted to interfere with 
the faithful discharge of their duty in this respect ; 
for silence, or indifference, at this time is high treason 
to the King in Zion. God himself says to each man 
whom he has called to minister at his altars : — " Son 
of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say 
unto them/ When I bring the sword upon a land, if 
the people of the land take a man of their coasts, 
and set him for their watchman: if when he seeth 
the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, 
and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the 
sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning ; if 
the sword come and take him away, his blood shall 
be upon his own head. . . . But if the watchman 
seeth the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, 
and the people be not warned ; if the sword come 
and take any person from among them, he is taken 



The Jesuits in High Feather. 537 

away in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at 
the watchman 's hand.' " If all Protestant ministers in 
this land were truly faithful to Christ, and to their 
fellow-men in this matter, we should, as a nation, 
have nothing to fear from the conspiracy of the 
priests and politicians. 

As we are about writing the closing sentences of 
this book there comes to us the New York Herald of 
October 5th, 1896, describing the farewell reception 
of Satolli, and the presence of his successor, Mgr. 
Martinelli. The Herald's correspondent says : — " In 
speaking of the feeling of the Jesuits in regard to 
the appointment of Mgr. Martinelli, the Rev. Father 
Pardow — himself a Jesuit — said to me, ' The Jesuits 
feel extremely gratified in the thought that a repre- 
sentative of one of the oldest orders in the church 
should be called by the voice of the successor of St. 
Peter to assume so important a part in the church.' " 
This coming of Martinelli, whose appointment as 
American Pope is so " extremely gratifying " to the 
Jesuits, bodes no good, and much evil, to this 
country, as the Jesuits are everywhere, and always 
the most deadly enemies of Protestantism and free 
institutions. 

The same copy of the Herald also contains some 
things said to his congregation by Rev. Mr. O'Con- 
nor, of New York, who was for many years a Romish 
priest. Father O'Connor said : " I see that Martinelli 
has come from Italy to be the Pope of America. 
Satolli was a little too liberal for His Holiness ; he 
was making too many friends among the American 



538 Martinelli a New Menace. 

people, and was in danger of becoming a Protestant 
himself; and he didn't say much against the public 
schools. Martinelli is sent here to reverse Satolli's 
policy. 

" What were Martinelli's first words to the re- 
porters? I want you all to mark them. He was 
asked/ In what country does the Pope think the 
Catholic Church will be the strongest V The answer, 
as given in the Herald, was : ' The Holy Father 
thinks that in future America will be the strongest 
Catholic country in the world.' 

" What does it mean for this country if his words 
should come true? It means splitting us into 
warring factions, like poor Ireland ; it means na- 
tional demoralization ; it means binding the intellect 
of man with bands of iron ; it means the grip of the 
priesthood on your souls ; it means that they will 
not open the gates of heaven for you unless you 
grease their palms ; it means the closing of the Bible. 
We must be up and doing. God bless those patriotic 
societies that have risen up during the past few 
years, who say to the Roman Catholic Church, ' Thus 
far, and no further ! Hands off our public schools I 
Hands off our institutions! Bew T areP There is 
need for the multiplication of these societies. Every 
Protestant church in our land should raise its voice 
and say to Martinelli — i Sir, you are mistaken. If 
you try new methods here, by and by we shall elect 
the right men to Congress, and request them to pass 
a law to place a Federal soldier at your back, put 
you on a steamer, and send you packing to Italy. 
We do not want you here.' " 



Elect the Right Men to Congress. 539 

These are strong and wise words from one who 
has been for many years a Romish priest, and who 
well knows from personal observation and expe- 
rience the hypocrisy, the lying, the deception, the 
blasphemy, and the political intrigues and plottings 
of this great system of wickedness — this cruel foe of 
civil and religious liberty. Yes ; by all means let 
all true patriots see to it that they " elect the right 
men to Congress" And no man who owes his first 
allegiance to the Pope of Rome can be " the right 
man " to send to Congress ; for in being loyal to the 
Pope, he will be a traitor to his country. 

Let every true American citizen insist that United 
States Senators shall be elected by the direct vote of 
the people; and incompetent millionaires and the 
agents of the Pope will find it far more difficult to 
bribe fifty thousand voters than half a dozen State 
legislators. In the meantime, let all who would 
perpetuate the free institutions of our country send 
only patriotic men to the State legislatures ; for this 
alone can secure an incorruptible National Senate. 

God bless all the patriotic orders, which are seek- 
ing to arouse an indifferent or too confident people 
to the dangers that threaten our liberties, from the 
" Beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit, and that 
shall go into perdition!" Let all who extenuate or 
apologize for the crimes of the " Mother of Har- 
lots" remember that to defend in any way the 
Romish Antichrist, is to affront and dishonor the 
true Christ — the Son of God — who, by the mouth of 
his apostle John, declared — " Whosoever trans- 



540 For Christ or Against Him. 

gresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. 
hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of 
Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If 
there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, 
(Christ's doctrine), receive him not into your house, 
neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him 
God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds" Solemn and 
awful are the words uttered by the inspired Paul in 
Galatians, first chapter — " There be some that trouble 
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ " — as the 
Church of Rome does ; as we have seen — " But 
though we, or any angel from heaven, preach any 
other gospel unto you than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said 
before, so say I now again : if any man preach any 
other gospel unto you than that ye have received, 
let him be accursed" 

The gospel that Paul, and the other apostles, 
preached, declares that, " Being justified by faith, we 
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ " — not through pope, or priest, or confes- 
sional. " By grace are ye saved, through faith, and 
that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God : not of 
works, lest any man should boast." " There is one 
God, and One Mediator between God and man ; the 
man Christ Jesus." " The blood of Jesus Christ, his 
Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Hallelujah ! 



■ 















p 



■yrt-f^c^i^^ 













Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 




: ; 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



HBHHH 




017 318 585 6 



§s8§5$fiSS§i^ 







